


Twenty Four Hours

by Dazzlious



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-26
Updated: 2018-06-11
Packaged: 2019-04-07 16:04:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 60,970
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14084538
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dazzlious/pseuds/Dazzlious
Summary: Hermione and her team have spent two long and unsuccessful years working on finding a potion to cure a mysterious epidemic that has been spreading throughout the wizarding world, collaborating with everyone who might possibly be able to help. Now only one person remains to ask, the one most likely to be able to solve the problem but also the least likely to want to help. The question is, is Hermione willing to pay the price to get the help she so badly needs?





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of the characters from JK Rowling’s fantastic books or films, I’m just borrowing and playing with them for a little while and get no monetary reward for doing so. Original characters are mine and bear no resemblance to anyone living or dead.
> 
> A/N: As ever, I'd like to thank my beta, Mamacita, for sorting out the niggly bits that I always forget. Thank you to you, too, for reading, I hope you enjoy the story. Dx

Hermione sighed as she looked around the table, seeing the rest of her team’s eyes staring back at her. They were looking to her for inspiration. She knew what they wanted and she was still certain she was going to be unable to provide the solution they were all hoping for.

But two years of hard work, not just hers but that of her team of six and that of other similar teams throughout the world would be flushed down the drain unless she worked some magic. He was their last chance — their one remaining hope of finding a cure for this nefarious disease that had spread like wildfire throughout the wizarding world.

It had struck worldwide and it had struck hard, killing young and old alike after robbing them of their magic. No one was safe from the effects and you never knew when you were going to find yourself at the mercy of it.

Hermione and her team had been one of five created across the world who had been battling to find a cure or even a way to slow down the spread of the disease, but although the teams had worked in tandem, sharing every last piece of information and every breakthrough, however slight, they were still no nearer to finding a cure and both funding and time was running out.  

Her team were looking to her to approach Severus Snape, ex-Professor and one-time Headmaster at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Hermione knew she should try; after all his overall knowledge of magic was unrivalled, only bettered by the long-dead Albus Dumbledore, and his skill at potion-making was famed throughout the wizarding world.

If anyone could help them it was definitely him, and to have him working on her team would be the coup of the century. But the truth was that Hermione had absolutely no idea how to approach the snarky ex-teacher.

She didn’t even have a clue where he lived these days.

After he had recovered from the snake bites that had almost taken his life during the Battle of Hogwarts, the climax of the second wizarding war, Snape had left St Mungo’s hospital without telling anyone and dropped out of sight. When the school reopened the following year, he had refused point blank to retake his place as Headmaster despite several personal pleas from the new Minister for Magic, Kingsley Shacklebolt, and he also turned down posts teaching Potions and Defence lessons at the school, the latter being newly re-purposed and no longer against the Dark Arts.  

Snape had disappeared without a trace and hadn’t even turned up at the gala evening held at the Ministry of Magic later that year when awards had been handed out to those who had helped to defeat Voldemort.

He had been awarded the Order of Merlin First Class for his extreme bravery and loyalty, the same award that Hermione, Harry and Ron had also received for their part in the overthrow of the Dark wizard, but although his name remained on the medal he had never come to the Ministry of Magic to claim it nor, apparently, had they been able to track down where he was to send it to him.

Hermione had heard that even the magical owls, who were famous for being able to track down anyone who was still alive, regardless of how well hidden they were, couldn’t seem to find him although over the years many people had tried, sending him letters begging an audience or even sending gifts. But all had been returned unopened and the owls refused to attempt the journey twice.

She thought about her own relationship with the ex-Potions Master, not at all sure that it would help her in gaining an audience with him even if she did manage to find him. He had always detested her for being too clever, and because she was a Gryffindor and was a close friend of Harry, the boy he had always seemed to hate with a vengeance.

They now knew, although Hermione suspected Snape was none too happy about that either, that he had been in love with Harry’s mother, Lily, when they were at school and his extraordinary acts of bravery had all been because of his devotion to her, and by extension to her son who had the misfortune, from Snape’s point of view, to look like his father — although Harry did have his mother’s bright green eyes.

This information had been given to Harry in the form of Snape’s memories at the point when Snape thought he was going to die, and these and several other vital memories had given Harry everything he needed to finally defeat Voldemort forever and clear the ex-teacher of the charge of murder that had been laid at his door with the death of his old friend and mentor, Albus Dumbledore.

Hermione had always respected the taciturn ex-Potions Master even if she didn’t always agree with his teaching methods and his bullying, and discovering what Harry had learnt about Snape’s life had brought her close to tears with sympathy for the poor man. But she suspected that he wouldn’t appreciate that either.

She sighed again, then smiled at the keen yet worried faces.

Sounding resigned, she told the team, ‘Okay, I’ll see if I can find Severus Snape and get him to help us.’ She waited for a moment, seeing the looks of joy spreading from face to face at her news.

Hermione raised her hand warningly. ‘I wouldn’t get your hopes up too quickly if I were you. Even if I manage to track him down, and that’s a massive if, I can’t guarantee that he’ll speak to me nor that he’ll actually agree to come and work with us. In fact, there’s more chance of him not being found or saying no than there is of him joining us, but I promise I will do everything in my power to try to get him to say yes. 

There was hurried and excited whispering as her team left the meeting room seemingly with a renewed sense of purpose. Hermione stayed sitting at the table looking at her notepad where she had scribbled the note _Write to SS_ surrounded by a frame of curling doodles. She sighed again. She was fairly certain this was a pointless endeavour but she had agreed to try, so now she had no choice but to follow through.

Hermione just wished the others weren’t so excited about it as she was sure they were going to end up being disappointed. The only members of the team who had been a little more reserved were the ones who had also attended Hogwarts while Snape had been a teacher there. Like her, they had to be aware of the man’s taciturn nature but they had apparently been able to accept their colleagues’ enthusiasm far more easily than she was able to.

She wondered whether it was because she knew him so much better than they did and was more attuned to the likelihood of him rejecting her request for help that she couldn’t feel that hopeful. Hermione was extremely flattered that her team regarded her and her powers of persuasion as highly as they did, but it would make it that much harder to face them when she finally had to admit defeat.

If only there was someone else she could ask, or someone who could intercede on her behalf, someone to whom Severus Snape was more likely to talk, but she couldn’t think of anyone offhand and time wasted trying to find someone was just putting off the inevitable and brought them ever closer to the deadline and the loss of their budget.

All she could do was try to send an owl and see what happened. Either it would get to him and he would grant her an audience or the request would be returned unopened and she would finally have to admit defeat and face her team with the bad news that their project was going to be terminated without a cure being found.


	2. One

Hermione got off the bus and walked through the grimy streets, following a hand-drawn map that just about did its job. She was still amazed that Severus Snape had answered her request for a meeting and had even sent her a map to show how to find him, ensconced as he was in a grim terraced house in a northern Muggle town that had at one time surely relied on textiles of some sort if the broken down and abandoned mill that hugged the skyline was any sort of clue.

A huge factory churned out nonstop billowing clouds of thick grey smoke at the end of the road but Hermione had no idea what it was producing. It helped to make the place feel grimy and unloved, a feeling that grew as she walked down the deserted streets, the pavements all cracked and worn, grass and weeds growing up through the broken concrete. She was glad she wasn’t walking down here at night. She was sure that none of the streetlamps had a working bulb; they all seemed to have been smashed.

She turned the corner and walked past the factory gates, turning right again and along another road, this one smaller and even more neglected than ever, the identical brick houses looking drab and disused. To the other side was a river oozing with brackish water that moved sluggishly, both the banks and the water filled with discarded rubbish.

Hermione wrinkled her nose as she headed for the last house in the terrace. It looked no more appealing than any of the other houses she had seen on her walk here and she found it hard to imagine Severus Snape living there. To be honest, it was hard to imagine anyone living there.

She checked the number on the map against the one on the door, its aging dark green paint peeling badly, and walked towards it, lifting the dull, unpolished knocker then releasing it. She waited patiently, not hearing any sound from within. Hermione looked at the map again, wondering if she had come to the wrong place, but surely there couldn’t be two Spinner’s Ends in the town? She counted to thirty then knocked again, more loudly this time.

Slowly the door opened, just a crack to start with. A dark-haired, sallow-faced man with a large hooked nose peered suspiciously through the gap. When he recognised Hermione he opened the door wider, stepping back to allow her access to the house.

Hermione looked around her with interest and slight dismay. The door led straight into a tiny sitting room which was dark and musty with almost every inch of the walls covered with books, giving the rather claustrophobic impression of a dingy padded cell. She glanced at the old furniture – a threadbare sofa and an overused armchair standing near a rickety table.

‘If you want to sit down I’ll bring us some tea.’

Snape’s melodious voice made Hermione jump. She looked at him and nodded, noting the smirk on his lips. He was clearly enjoying her discomfort just as he always had. She watched as he left the room then moved to sit gingerly on the sofa, assuming the armchair was his.

While she waited for the ex-teacher to return, Hermione looked around the tiny room, impressed at the number of books he owned, all seemingly very old and probably a lot of them to do with Dark magic knowing what she knew of the man.

She was feeling uncomfortable and not just because the sofa was lumpy. Hermione was sure that Snape must know why she had come. She suspected he wasn’t anywhere near as reclusive as the rumours made him out to be, otherwise the owl she had sent on the off-chance would never have reached him, but she wasn’t sure of the best way to tempt him into working with her team.

Normally she would have appealed to his better nature, but after spending six years on the receiving end of his foul temper in Potions and eventually in Defence Against the Dark Arts classes too, Hermione wasn’t entirely convinced that he had one.

 

 

* * *

 

 

Severus could feel the tension in the room as he returned bearing a tray containing tea things. He knew why Hermione had sent him an owl, there could only be one reason, but he had been interested to see her, to discover how much she had changed over the years and what she had made of her life since graduating from Hogwarts.

She had held such promise at school but was far too inclined to allow her friends to take credit for things that had obviously been her idea. Her intelligence was head and shoulders above that of the two boys she had fallen in with, but instead of ditching them and reaching for the lofty heights he would have expected of her, she had held back so as not to feel alienated from her peers.

It was for this reason more than any other that Severus had found himself forever chastising her in class. He had actually not been too bothered about the fact that she was a know-it-all but he had resented the fact that she hadn’t aspired to reach the heights she was capable of. It was such a waste of her prodigious talent. 

But it seemed Hermione had made some progress since he had last seen her. She had risen steadily through the ranks at the Ministry of Magic and was currently the head of a significantly important team that was working on a cure for some epidemic that had been had been devastating the wizarding world. He had heard about it from a few colleagues that he still saw occasionally. In fact, the epidemic was all that anyone ever seemed to talk about these days.

Severus had been a little surprised and rather annoyed that he hadn’t been courted for his expertise before this, but now he reflected ruefully that he may well have done, he probably just hadn’t bothered to read the letters.

Even now, nine years after he had retired from the world that had almost killed him, he still received owls several times a week soliciting his help or sending gifts in hopes that it would tempt him out of hiding and back into brewing potions or even teaching. He ignored them all, sending them back, unread, with a quiet word to the owl delivering the item telling it not to re-deliver if asked.

Severus wasn’t completely cut off from the wizarding world and he hadn’t stopped making potions either. It was just that those who used his services these days knew how to contact him and had no need for post owls, and since the work he was doing gave him sufficient money to live perfectly comfortably in the Muggle world he felt no need to re-establish himself in the wizarding one.

He had done enough and he enjoyed his privacy, something he suspected he wouldn’t get much of if he went back — being the holder of an Order of Merlin First Class award would guarantee that, even if he hadn’t actually bothered going to collect it.

Severus still wasn’t sure why he had looked at Hermione’s letter although he had recognised her handwriting the moment he saw it. She was the last person he would ever have expected to contact him and so, against his better judgement, he had accepted the letter from the owl.

The letter was formal and business-like, not really surprising — after all, he hadn’t been expecting her to want to make a social call. But now she was sitting in his lounge looking rather more attractive than he remembered her, and she was going to try to get him to do something he didn’t particularly want to do.   

Still not speaking, Severus put the tray on the table. He lifted the lid of the teapot, then used a teaspoon to stir the leaves for a few seconds. Replacing the lid, he sorted out the cups and saucers, and after waiting for a few more silent minutes for the tea to brew he poured the steaming brown liquid into each cup.

‘Milk and sugar?’ he enquired.

‘Just milk, please,’ Hermione answered politely, glad that the silence had finally been broken even if it was only to talk about tea.

Severus picked up the milk jug and added a small amount to each cup, briskly stirred them with the teaspoon, then handed one of the cups to Hermione. He took his own and sat down in the armchair, watching her appraisingly.

She really was extremely attractive; certainly nothing like the bushy-haired little girl he had known at school. Hermione had grown up and it suited her, although that was probably aided by the smart grey suit she was wearing — no doubt her best — designed to make a good impression. It was expensively cut and fitted her perfectly with a tight and highly alluring skirt that rode up her legs to above her knees when she was sitting, giving the merest hint of the shapely thighs beneath.

Underneath the fitted jacket that Hermione had left open she wore a pale pink blouse in some silky material that clung enticingly to her firm breasts, unbuttoned just enough to be considered daring but without being wanton. Around her throat she wore a thin silver chain with a small pendant of some description; Severus couldn’t work out what it was without making it too obvious he was staring at her.

‘Your letter said you had something important you wanted to discuss, Miss Granger,’ he said, cutting straight to the chase.

‘Please, call me Hermione — and I hope I can call you Severus?’ she said. Hermione took a sip of her tea as Severus inclined his head in agreement. ‘I was rather surprised, yet obviously extremely pleased that you agreed to see me today.’

Hermione was studying Severus as closely as he was looking at her. He was dressed exactly as she always remembered: the smart black frock coat with its many buttons over the top of black trousers and a crisp white shirt. She couldn’t help wondering whether he always dressed like this or had done it purely because she was here. Somehow, she couldn’t imagine him lounging around in jeans and t-shirt, although surely he must take the jacket off sometimes, mustn’t he?

She had expected him to look older, too; but if anything, without the stress that he had been under from living his double life he looked younger, much less lined in the face and without the tension that had seemed to infuse his entire body during his time at Hogwarts. Retirement obviously suited Severus, and for a moment she felt a pang of guilt that she was going to try to wrest him away from this and back into work.

‘I have to admit that I usually ignore the owls that come my way, but I recognised your handwriting and was interested to see why you wanted to talk to me so badly,’ Severus admitted. ‘I understand that you work for the Ministry of Magic now.’

Hermione nodded. ‘It’s a special team put together in conjunction with St Mungo’s to research and find a cure for this epidemic that’s been sweeping through our world. I don’t know how much you keep up with the news and whether you know anything about it?’

Severus inclined his head as a small smile graced his lips. ‘Obviously I don’t know all the intricacies of what it entails but I think I’m relatively well informed. I do still have some contact with the wizarding world and the epidemic does appear to be uppermost in everyone’s mind at the moment.’

‘That’s because it’s an insidious disease which has killed many people and left those lucky enough to survive it seriously ill and no longer able to do magic,’ Hermione told him gravely. ‘There are four other teams around the world working on the problem too; I was fortunate enough to be asked to head up the UK’s team. It’s been interesting work but ultimately incredibly frustrating. Every time we think we’ve found a solution the virus either mutates or something goes wrong and we’re back at square one.’

‘So how long have you been working on this cure?’ Severus asked.

He was a little surprised to discover that he was rather more interested than he had anticipated being at this stage — he had half expected to send Hermione away almost immediately with a flea in her ear, although to be fair, he was enjoying looking at her legs and wondering whether she was wearing stockings under the skirt as he continued to sip his tea.

Hermione took another sip of hers before answering. ‘It’ll be two years and two months next week. The thing is, the money’s running out. No one is prepared to give us extra funding because we’re not finding a cure. I’m not sure what they think they’re going to do instead, but we’ve reached a real do-or-die situation.’ She swallowed nervously. ‘And that’s why I need to talk to you, Severus. We could really do with your expertise. I know you’ve retired and I’m sure you’re not eager to get back into the rat race, but you really could be the vital link we need to crack this. That’s why I asked to see you. I’m really hoping you’ll consider helping us.’

‘And why do you think I should do that?’ Severus asked forthrightly.

Hermione stared at him for a moment a little shocked at the bluntness of the question. She had expected it, of course, although maybe not quite so plainly put and so early on in the conversation, and for a moment it put her off-kilter.

It was a question she had asked herself many times while waiting to meet him, knowing he was going to require her to make a case for why he should put himself back in the spotlight, as his joining the team undoubtedly would do, and she still wasn’t sure she had a reasonable answer. Saying that they needed him didn’t seem to be enough, yet she had already mentioned his expertise and he seemed to be ignoring that.

When Hermione had considered it previously she had worked out an impassioned plea that drew on his humanity and guilt to make him feel bound to help, but now that she was sitting in the same room with the snarky ex-Potions Master she remembered how little humanity he seemed to have. All the arguments she had expected to sway him with tumbled away like dead leaves from a tree in autumn and she suddenly found herself unable to think of a way to express eloquently what she wanted to say to him.

Severus smiled maliciously as he watched Hermione flounder at his question. No doubt she had expected him to agree just because of the high fatality rate, thinking he would feel duty-bound to help find a cure — but that was never going to happen. Why should he care about a world that had never cared about him? But now he could see all sorts of possibilities opening up and Severus realised he could have lots of fun with the lovely Hermione.

It would be interesting to see just how far she was willing to go to get his help; if he played it right that would be a very long way. A little part of him knew he was being unfair to Hermione, but then no one had ever said he was a fair man or even a nice one. He had always been a chancer, whether it led to good or bad, and now he was being given the sort of opportunity he hadn’t had for years. This game was going to be an interesting one to initiate and could potentially be immensely pleasurable as, hopefully, would be the outcome.

Now he thought about it seriously, Severus was actually interested in helping Hermione and her team with the research. It would give him something to do that would be challenging for a change because, if he was honest, he did get a little bored sometimes. In the past he had always relished a challenge, and trying to find a way to beat this virus everyone was so worried about would definitely give him that.

But he had no intention of letting Hermione know he was interested and he also had no intention of allowing himself to be bought cheaply. If Hermione was serious in her intent to employ him and she played his game sufficiently well then he would accede to her request; otherwise she would go away empty-handed. He was hopeful that the fear of failure would be enough to make Hermione play the game as he really could do with the entertainment.

‘Well, at least you’re sensible enough not to try guilt-tripping me into helping you, Hermione,’ Severus said when she didn’t reply to his question. ‘I would have thrown you out immediately if you’d tried that.’

‘So you don’t care that people are dying, then?’ Hermione asked quietly. She was wondering what she could say that would get him to agree to help if he really didn’t care what was happening to his fellow wizards.

‘I didn’t say that. I just don’t think using those deaths to make someone feel guilty is the way to go about getting them to help, especially when the project is likely to be cancelled soon anyway.’

‘But it wouldn’t be cancelled if you joined us,’ Hermione admitted.

Severus noticed she had gone slightly pink as if embarrassed. He stared at her enquiringly.

‘If the Minister for Magic knew you were working with us he would give us the time and money we need, I know he would.’    

Severus understood now why Hermione was embarrassed. She had obviously been told that no more money was forthcoming unless she managed to get him to join the team.

‘But that’s not the only reason we want you,’ Hermione added quickly, realising she had made it sound like they only wanted him so they could get the funding. ‘You are such a brilliant potion maker, Severus, and you’re the most skilled wizard I’ll ever meet. Your help would be invaluable and I’m sure with you working with us we would be successful. You can give us insights that we’ve not even considered, especially as you’re coming to it completely cold. Please . . . we need you.’

Severus stared at Hermione for a moment gauging her sincerity. She certainly didn’t seem to be faking her desire for him to join her and there was no hint of sarcasm when she mentioned his skills as a wizard either.

‘And if I do decide to help you what would I get out of it?’ Severus asked.

‘We can pay you a consultancy fee which should hopefully make up for any loss of earnings while you’re working with us. You will, of course, have full access to our laboratories and to the team, should you want to use them, plus all the data the other teams across the world have collected,’ Hermione informed him hopefully.

Her heart was beating more rapidly now. Was Severus actually considering it?

‘But what would _I_ get out of it? Severus repeated.

Hermione frowned. ‘I’m not sure I understand what you’re asking, Severus.’

Severus surveyed her as if she was an idiot. ‘It’s quite simple, Hermione. What benefit do I derive personally from doing this? The money means nothing to me. I have more than sufficient for my needs and I have no desire to be drawn back into the wizarding world with all its problems. I left them behind years ago. So I ask again, what would _I_ get out of it?’

Hermione felt her heart sink at Severus’ words knowing she had nothing to offer that he would likely want. As she had suspected all along, this had been a wasted journey and she would have to go back to her team and admit that she had failed.

‘How badly do you want me to join your team, Hermione?’ Severus asked suddenly.

He had seen her deflate at his last question and knew she was close to giving up. That wasn’t what he wanted at all.

Hermione’s eyes met his and Severus saw they were glistening, almost as if they had tears in them.

‘More than anything in the world,’ she admitted quietly. ‘I just don’t know what to say to you to get you to agree.’

There was a sudden vulnerability to Hermione that hadn’t been there before, a slight desperation to do anything she could to make him agree to help. It made Severus feel more powerful than he had for years and it made the desire he already felt for the beautiful woman in front of him flare. For a few seconds he considered what he was going to do, wondering whether it would ruin everything, but if he didn’t take the chance he would never know.

‘I will agree to join your team as a consultant, Hermione, on the terms you mentioned previously. But in addition, I want you to give yourself to me completely for twenty-four hours,’ Severus said slowly, without a hint of amusement in his voice.

Hermione stared at him in shock. ‘You want me to—’

‘Give yourself to me. Yes,’ Severus said, finishing Hermione’s sentence as she continued to stare at him in disbelief. ‘Completely and without any complaint for twenty-four hours.’

‘It’s not possible,’ Hermione told him. ‘I couldn’t get away for twenty-four hours even if I wanted to.’

‘Why’s that?’ Severus asked curiously.

‘Because despite me working long hours my husband still expects me to go home to him at night,’ Hermione explained.

‘You got married then,’ Severus retorted sounding faintly disgusted. ‘Please tell me that at least you didn’t saddle yourself with Weasley.’

‘For your information, he’s now a very highly regarded Auror, just as Harry is,’ Hermione said, bristling at the criticism of her husband. 

‘That’s not really difficult to achieve, though, is it?’ Severus replied dismissively. ‘You don’t need any brains to be an Auror. In fact, I’d say they were a distinct disadvantage sometimes.’

‘He’s not stupid, whatever you always thought,’ Hermione retorted, points of red in her cheeks as she railed against Severus.

He retaliated immediately. ‘Well, I’d have to disagree with that, having seen him in action for six years, although I think his worst failing was holding you back and stopping you from achieving your potential.’

‘He didn’t hold me back,’ Hermione snapped. ‘I don’t think heading up this team could be called not achieving my potential, and Ron’s always been extremely supportive of me. He understands how important my work is.’

‘In that case he would surely understand the need for you to take twenty-four hours away from home to ensure the continuation of your project. You don’t need to tell him what you’re doing,’ Severus pointed out.

Hermione glared at him. ‘Maybe he would but it’s not going to happen. I would dearly love you to come and work with us, Severus, but I’m not willing to prostitute myself to make it happen.’

‘Then under the circumstances I don’t think we have much else to discuss, do we?’

Severus scowled at Hermione, daring her to speak.

Hermione returned the look in disbelief then dropped her gaze to look at the now empty cup on her lap, uncomfortable under Severus’ continuing glare. She knew she should leave as she wasn’t going to be able to convince him and she wasn’t willing to consider what he wanted from her, but she couldn’t help making one last plea.

‘I can’t believe we have a chance to potentially stop the deaths of thousands of people and you’re refusing to help,’ she said unhappily.

Severus stood up and wandered towards one of the bookcases as if to show he was busy and didn’t need Hermione ruining his day. He made her wait for a couple of long and uncomfortable minutes as he perused the shelf. Eventually, when the silence had become almost completely unbearable, he turned and replied to her.

‘I’m not refusing to help, Hermione. I’ve just specified my requirements for joining you. If you choose not to uphold them it’s not my fault. If you’re going to lay the blame anywhere I suggest you take a look at yourself first.’

‘Are you surprised that I refused you?’ Hermione asked indignantly.

‘I would have thought that if you really were as interested in this project succeeding as much as you assert you are then you would be willing to make such a small sacrifice. I’m not really asking for that much,’ Severus drawled.

‘You want me to cheat on my husband,’ Hermione said, trying to stop her voice from breaking as tears threatened. ‘Perhaps it doesn’t mean that much to you, Severus, but it’s a huge deal for me. And I can’t believe you’ve really got the gall to ask for it.’

‘Those are my terms, Hermione. Take it or leave it,’ Severus said dismissively. He turned back to the bookcase, selecting a book from the shelf and opening it to look inside, effectively dismissing her. Looking back at Hermione for a moment, he indicated the door. ‘Close the door on your way out, please.’

Hermione stayed where she was, trying to decide what to do next. What Severus was suggesting was virtually blackmail, but did she really have any other choice? The project would come to nothing and would be terminated within weeks without his contribution, the hopes of both her team and the other teams around the world dashed because of his selfishness. All the work she and others had done, everything they had achieved so far, would be completely wasted and there would still be no hope of a cure.

She was furious with her ex-teacher for his attitude and for the disappointment her team would feel when she revealed his refusal to assist in their research now he had made it crystal clear he had no intention of helping voluntarily. But what he was asking of her in exchange for his help was just so repugnant and amounted to nothing more than blackmail.  

‘Still here, Hermione?’ Severus asked. He turned back to look at her, the book still in his hand. His voice was colder as he added, ‘Just go away and stop wasting my time.’

‘I always thought there must be a little shred of decency inside you somewhere,’ Hermione said. ‘But there really isn’t, is there? You’re just a complete and utter bastard.’

Severus laughed bitterly. ‘I just have no desire to waste my time on a hopeless cause, Hermione. If you’re not completely dedicated to the project, why should I be? You expect me to drop everything at a moment’s notice and give up my well-earned solitude to collaborate with you on what is, let’s face it, a failing project. What on earth makes you think I should do that without something worth my while as recompense?’

‘Isn’t the glory of finding the cure enough?’ Hermione asked heatedly. ‘You’ll be famous throughout the wizarding world forever.’

‘What do I care for fame and glory?’ Severus retorted, his voice icy. ‘That’s never been a motivating force for me.’

Hermione immediately cursed herself for being so stupid. She already knew fame wasn’t the way to convince her old teacher to join her but in her anger she had mentioned it without thinking. After everything Severus had done to help Harry during the war, even almost dying in the process, he had never once asked for any recognition.

It was patently obvious that he wasn’t going to be swayed by the chance of making history. He had even gone as far as leaving the wizarding world and spent the last nine years completely alone to ensure his anonymity, so maybe his request made more sense if she thought about it less emotionally.

He was obviously lonely and thought that a night spent with her would give him something he was missing from his life. That didn’t mean he wanted her particularly. Maybe the same request would have been made of any female to ask for his help, she was just the one who had asked first. But that thought didn’t make the request any more palatable. Nor did it make it right.

Hermione thought again of what Severus wanted from her and then thought of Ron. If he ever found out about it he would never forgive her and, without a doubt, their marriage would be over. It would be bad enough that she had been unfaithful to him but his hatred of Severus was still so strong, even after all these years, that he would see her choice as an even greater betrayal than the act itself.

 _I’m so sorry, Ron,_ she thought sadly, _but I really don’t have any choice._

‘Still haven’t left?’ Severus asked. His voice sounded more amused now. ‘Perhaps you have more gumption than I gave you credit for, Hermione.’ 

She stood up and walked over to join the ex-Potions Master.

‘We really need your expertise on this, Severus. Without you the project will definitely fail and that would be a waste of so much hard work by so many dedicated people,’ Hermione told him honestly. She looked at the ugly man intently as if seeing him properly for the first time. ‘If Ron finds out—’

She stopped speaking, her eyes dropping slightly, unable to say anything more.

‘Are you going to tell him, then?’ Severus asked seriously. Hermione gave a small shake of her head. ‘Well, I certainly have no intention of talking to Weasley at any time in the future, and as I’m sure you’re aware I am an intensely private man.’

Hermione swallowed, trying to ignore the sick feeling roiling around her stomach. ‘Then it appears I have no choice, Severus. In order to get you to help us, I have to accept your terms.’

Severus smiled like a shark. It made Hermione shiver. ‘I’m glad you’ve finally seen sense, Hermione, although I want us to be _absolutely_ clear on what it is you are agreeing to. I would hate for there to be _any_ misunderstanding on that score.’

‘You want me to have sex with you,’ Hermione stated unhappily. She wrapped her arms around her body as if to comfort herself. ‘Twenty-four hours with you. I know.’

‘That wasn’t exactly what I specified,’ Severus answered coolly. ‘What I told you was that I want you to give yourself to me completely for twenty-four hours. Whilst it will undoubtedly include sexual intimacy you should be aware that I desire far more than that from you. Consider carefully before you accept my offer as I need you to be sure that you know exactly what it is that you’re agreeing to so there are no arguments later.’

Hermione gave a small and extremely bitter laugh. ‘And yet you said it was a small sacrifice. It doesn’t sound that small to me.’

Severus smirked and shrugged uncaringly. ‘Perhaps I understated it a little. But the fact remains that you need my help and there is only one way you’re going to get it. Perhaps you should go away and think the offer over before you make a final decision.’

But Hermione knew that regardless of what was involved she had no choice but to accept. If she went away without agreeing to Severus’ demand she knew she would never be able to go through with it and then the project would be doomed, all thanks to her.

‘I don’t need to think about it. You’ve left me with absolutely no choice, Severus.’

‘It’s only twenty-four hours,’ he told her soothingly, as if that would make her feel better.

‘Twenty-four hours that I shouldn’t be spending with you,’ Hermione reminded him tersely. ‘Twenty-four hours that could end my marriage.’

‘Do you have any children?’ Severus asked suddenly.

Hermione looked at him in surprise. Did he actually have some compassion after all? Was he perhaps worried about what damage he might be doing to her marriage if she had a family?

She shook her head. ‘No, not yet. I’ve been so busy with the project I haven’t really had time to consider pregnancy. Obviously I’m hoping in the future, though—’

‘Good, that means your cunt will still be tight,’ he said, cutting her off.

Hermione stared at him with her mouth open in shock. She couldn’t believe what he had just said. How on earth had she ever thought he was in any way capable of compassion? The man was the bastard of all bastards.

‘Once you have a baby your cunt loses its tone, meaning there would be less feeling for both of us,’ Severus explained, his face as expressionless as his voice. ‘More than one and it’s not going to touch the sides. But assuming you’re not in the habit of regularly fucking an extraordinarily large cock you should still be sufficiently tight, at least enough not to have to rely too heavily on anal sex.’

‘I’m not having anal sex with you,’ Hermione retorted, completely appalled at the thought.

Severus laughed darkly and when he spoke, this time, his voice contained the nasty sardonic edge that Hermione remembered from school.

‘Really? I’m sure I heard you agree to my terms just a few minutes ago. Have you changed your mind again?’

‘I didn’t expect—’ Hermione blustered— ‘you never said anything about—’        

Severus cut her off with a curt laugh. ‘I told you that you would be doing _whatever_ I want you to do. I also told you to consider carefully what this could entail and I made no secret of the fact I was including sexual activity in that. What do you want, Hermione? A prescriptive list of everything I intend to do?’

Hermione shook her head again, sadly. ‘I’ve never even done that with Ron,’ she admitted. ‘It’s not something I want to do.’

He looked at her interestedly. ‘Why not? Perhaps you’ll enjoy it.’ Hermione shook her head even more as he added, ‘How do you know if you’ve never tried it?’

‘I don’t _want_ to try it,’ Hermione said, sounding upset.

Severus shrugged. ‘Then we are back to where we started,’ he said. ‘Close the door on your way out.’

Hermione flushed at the dismissive tone of his voice, almost as if she had been slapped by the rebuke. She could feel tears prickling in her eyes again and quickly blinked to get rid of them. She wanted to leave, to go and never see this disgusting, manipulating bastard ever again but she couldn’t; the project demanded that she stay.

‘Severus, please,’ Hermione pleaded. Her voice was quivering as the tears welled again. ‘Can’t we reach a compromise on this?’

He snorted with laughter. ‘A compromise? No! You do as I want, including the anal sex, or you leave me alone and never bother me about this infernal project ever again. Now make your decision, Hermione. I’m getting fed up with talking about it.’

‘You’re blackmailing me,’ Hermione said quietly as a tear finally escaped and slid down her face. She hurriedly wiped it away with her finger.  ‘You know I have no choice. But if you make me do this when I don’t want to then it’s tantamount to you raping me.’

Severus gave a loud sigh as he stared witheringly at her. ‘Don’t be so melodramatic, Hermione. You are perfectly free to leave and I am not _making_ you do anything. As I said before, it has to be your choice. Quite clearly the proposition is distressing you too much for you to seriously consider it as a viable option, so I think it's best you leave and we’ll just forget all about it.’

‘But—’

‘No, not another word, Hermione. Please, just go.’

‘Severus—’

‘I’m not interested,’ Severus said tartly. ‘You have made your feelings on the subject more than transparent.’ He walked over to the front door and opened it. ‘Good luck for your future, Hermione.’

Hermione picked up her handbag and walked slowly towards the door. Such total rejection hurt, but she couldn’t stay now. She needed to be away from this evil man who had just ruined her dreams and everything she and so many others had worked so hard for over the last two years.

Severus didn’t say anything further to her, just held open the door as she walked out of the house, a slight smirk on his face that made her fume silently with anger, as she fought the urge to slap him.

Hermione didn’t look back as she walked down the road, hearing the door slam shut behind her.     


	3. Two

Hermione’s heart sank as she saw the peeling green paint on the door ahead of her. She sighed and debated for a moment whether to leave but knew in all good conscience that she couldn’t. The expectations of not only her team but the other four teams around the world who had been working so hard to find a cure for the virus meant she had no choice but to enter this dreadful house and spend the next twenty-four hours doing whatever that bastard, Severus Snape, demanded of her, however objectionable those demands might turn out to be.

For a moment her mind drifted to Ron and her heart sank even further at the thought of what she was doing to him, even if he would never know about it. He had no idea what her meeting to finalise the arrangements for Severus’ joining the research team was going to consist of although to be fair, neither did she. But she was certain that with Severus making the demands, at the very least it would be embarrassing and degrading and possibly even downright painful.

Hermione was already feeling uncomfortable with the way she was dressed, specified in a letter from Severus in response to the one she had sent him agreeing to his terms and which she had burnt in disgust when she had read his requirements.

When she had left Spinner’s End on the day she had tried unsuccessfully to recruit him to her team, Hermione had intended never to return and wanted nothing more than to forget the disgusting ex-Potions Master even existed. But events at the laboratory had contrived to give her no choice but to reconsider his demand. Word of her attempt to get to him to help had spread to the other teams via her eager team and because of this, expectations had been raised across the world.

Even this wouldn’t have been enough to see Hermione risking her marriage by spending twenty-four hours satiating Severus’ filthy desires, but then there was a real breakthrough with the cure for the virus and suddenly the entire playing field had changed. Effectively following up on the lead their counterparts in Bulgaria had discovered required money and time, and Hermione’s team had none of either left and no possibility of getting further funding without Severus there to give the Minister for Magic reassurance that any future money would be well spent.

Hermione was annoyed that their funding relied on a pervert who quite clearly had no compassion or interest in saving lives, but with the Bulgarian lead looking more hopeful than anything they had achieved in the previous two years and knowing that Severus’ expertise would be vital as would his potion-brewing skills, she’d had no choice but to send him an owl, extremely reluctantly agreeing to his demands.

So here she was, standing outside his front door, trying to pluck up the courage to knock and face the consequences of the next twenty-four hours. Hermione knew the time would start from the moment she entered the house but now she was here it seemed like an eternity and one that she might never escape. If only there was some other way . . . but there wasn’t, and standing outside worrying about it wasn’t getting her anywhere closer to getting it over and done with.

Hermione took a deep breath and lifted the knocker then dropped it, the noise making her stomach roil as she waited for the ex-teacher to answer the door. She had just lifted the knocker a second time when the door opened and Severus was staring at her with a smug grin that Hermione had the urge to punch off his stupid face.

‘Ah, Hermione. Good to see you’re so eager,’ he said smoothly, and Hermione couldn’t help but shiver. Severus stood back as he opened the door wider to allow her inside the dingy house. ‘Come on in and we’ll get started.’

Hermione’s stomach flipped again as she crossed the threshold, knowing that whatever happened within the next twenty-four hours she was unable to do anything to stop it now that she had willingly entered Severus’ home.

As she moved deeper into the living room, a whole raft of ideas of things he might want to do with her bombarded her mind but she pushed them away, praying silently to herself that he wouldn’t be too harsh with her. Surely it was enough that she was going to have to have sex with him, wasn’t it?

Severus closed the door and moved towards her, his hand outstretched as he studied her appraisingly. Hermione stared at him blankly, not sure what he was after.

‘I’ll need your wand,’ he said, his voice matter-of-fact.

Hermione started to refuse automatically, but then remembered that she had no choice but to do as she was asked. With a sigh, she opened her handbag and withdrew her wand, passing it to Severus and hoping he wouldn’t do anything to it. She had owned her wand since she had started school; it had helped her through all sorts of troubles and she was extremely attached to it, plus she didn’t want to have to go to the trouble or expense of having to get a new one.

‘I’ll be keeping hold of this just to be on the safe side,’ Severus told her, and he studied her wand interestedly for a moment before putting it in his jacket pocket with his own. ‘You can have it back when the twenty-four hours is up.

‘Before we start, are you sure you want to go through with this? I give you this one last opportunity to change your mind, Hermione. After this, there will be no more chances. You will do exactly what I tell you to do, without complaint, or you will be punished. Refuse to accept the punishment and our time together will be over and I will not join you on your project, regardless of how much of the twenty-four hours is up or how many other people attempt to court me for my help. Do you understand?’

Hermione found she suddenly couldn’t speak as terror at what was to follow invaded her entire body. Knowing she had to give an answer, she nodded.

‘I don’t know what that means,’ Severus told her harshly. ‘Are you content to continue or do you want to leave?’

‘Continue,’ Hermione forced out, her voice no higher than a whisper.

Severus appeared pleased with her response. He glanced at his watch.

‘Good. So it’s now just after midday. Your period of submission will be over at midday tomorrow.’ He studied Hermione’s anxious face for a moment. ‘Are you dressed as I requested?’

Hermione nodded again. Severus waved his hand to indicate that she should remove her coat and with trembling hands she did as he asked.

‘You look very nice, I like that outfit,’ Severus told her approvingly as she revealed the same suit and blouse she had been wearing the last time she visited him. ‘Lift your skirt please,’ he added.

Hermione gazed at him balefully but grasped the edges of the tight skirt and pulled it up a little.

‘Higher,’ he said, his voice sounding even smugger now.

Hermione didn’t want to look at him and see the expression on his face. She was already feeling nauseated despite the fact Severus’ requests so far were tame — they hadn’t even really got started yet. She pulled the skirt up further, revealing the tops of her stockings and the tiny knickers she was wearing.

‘Beautiful,’ Severus whispered happily as he gazed at Hermione, his arousal flaring as her creamy thighs encased in gorgeous flesh-coloured stockings were revealed to him, the sacred triangle between her legs covered by a tiny scrap of pale pink silk edged with white lace. Hermione looked embarrassed and uncomfortable, which for some reason excited him even more.

‘Sit down and I’ll get the tea,’ Severus said, and he indicated the sofa.

Hermione stared at him in surprise.

‘What’s the matter, don’t you want a cup of tea?’ he asked. ‘Would you prefer something else instead?’

‘No, tea’s fine,’ Hermione said, sounding a little shaken.

As Severus left the room Hermione pulled her skirt back down and sat down on the sofa, folding up her coat and placing it next to her along with her handbag. She had no idea what was happening but Severus was clearly trying to discombobulate her, presumably to put her off her guard. She wasn’t entirely sure what she had expected him to do, but making her a cup of tea certainly wasn’t it.

By the time he returned bearing the tray with the tea things Hermione was no less confused nor did she feel any more comfortable. She knew there had to be a reason for Severus wanting her to wear her sexiest underwear and stockings and she was sure holding her skirt up to show him wasn’t going to be the full extent of their interaction.

What was he going to find for her to do for twenty-four hours in this dingy little house? She couldn’t even begin to imagine unless he was going to allow her to sleep for some of it. That probably wouldn’t be so bad and might even take up a good-sized chunk of the allotted time she had to spend with him, but Hermione suspected that sleep wasn’t going to be playing a huge role in their time together, even though she had a horrible feeling that his bed might.

‘Just milk, isn’t it?’ Severus asked pleasantly as he poured the tea.

Hermione was certain he had a gleam in his eye that hadn’t been there the last time she had visited. As she took a sip of her tea she realised with a start that Severus was enjoying himself, and she was more certain than ever that he was purposely trying to disconcert her for his own entertainment.

Unsure of what was going to happen next and expecting Severus to suggest something sexual at any moment, she sat stiffly and feeling incredibly tense on the uncomfortable sofa. However, instead of requesting sexual favours, he asked that Hermione tell him all about the latest breakthrough that had prompted her change of heart.

This was followed by a light lunch, prepared by him while Hermione waited in the lounge. She used the time to check out one of the bookcases and discovered, as she had thought, that he owned some seriously rare and interesting-looking books. She wondered whether Severus would allow her to borrow one or two of them if they were going to be work colleagues.

After lunch Hermione was encouraged to provide a thorough profile on each of her team members and what she considered their strengths and weaknesses. This was followed by a similar discussion of the other four teams based in Bulgaria, Egypt, Brazil and Australia. By the time they finished talking Hermione realised that it was almost five o’clock in the afternoon. She had managed to get through almost five hours without any sexual activity taking place.

Although she was relieved by this discovery, Hermione was aware that she still had nineteen hours to go and she didn’t believe for one minute that she would remain so lucky for the entire twenty-four.

As she considered it further, she wondered whether it was possible that Severus didn’t like to have sex in the afternoon. Perhaps he was a traditionalist and would only do it at bedtime or first thing in the morning. Maybe those were the only times he was able to get an erection. If that was the case, and part of her sincerely hoped it was, she still had a few hours before she had to face the awful prospect of having to become intimate with the snarky man.

Pushing the thought of sex with Severus out of her mind once more, Hermione finally began to relax as she tried to think of what else she could tell him about the project, hoping to keep him engaged and talking for as long as possible, both so that nothing else would happen and in the hope that he would become more interested in helping with the research.

She was in the middle of telling him about an interesting piece of work her team and the Egyptians had been collaborating on when he looked at his watch and held up his hand to stop her from speaking.

‘Bring the tea service through to the kitchen,’ he ordered.

Without saying another word he stood up and exited the lounge, leaving Hermione staring after him in surprise. Once again she felt suddenly confused and wondered whether Severus had actually been listening to her. Had he taken any notice of any of the things she had told him about the project so far?

She stood up and piled up the tray with the tea things, carrying it out of the door and into a dark corridor, hoping she would be able to work out where the kitchen was. To her left there was a staircase, which she ignored as she was sure the kitchen wouldn’t be upstairs. To her right there were two doors, one a little way down and the other at the end of the dingy hallway.

The nearest door was open and Hermione could see it was the kitchen and Severus was already in there. She made her way into it, careful about carrying the tray with its old and, she suspected, extremely valuable china. She put the tray down on the kitchen table and as she waited for Severus to speak she looked around the room, surprised at its mixture of extremely old and startlingly new Muggle appliances.

‘I have to go out for a couple of hours,’ Severus told her once he decided she had looked around enough.

Hermione stared at him in surprise, obviously not expecting him to leave her during the twenty-four hours.

‘While I’m gone you can do the washing up from lunch; there’s also my breakfast things in there as I didn’t have time to do them before you arrived. Once that’s done you can start preparing dinner. I went shopping yesterday so there should be plenty of options for you to choose from. Feel free to make whatever you like but I expect a full three-course meal. I should be back by about seven-thirty so dinner will be at eight sharp.’

Hermione opened her mouth to say something about him treating her like a house-elf, but then she remembered it could be so much worse. Better still, if Severus was going to be gone for a few hours she could fill the time she was waiting for the meal to cook with reading one of those fascinating books.

‘Well go on then,’ Severus said imperiously, pointing in the direction of the sink.

‘You don’t have a dishwasher then?’ Hermione asked.

‘Why would I need one? I live alone and rarely have guests. I hardly think that requires a dishwasher, do you?’

Hermione looked around the room for an apron, her heart sinking as she realised there was nothing like that available. Severus had made her wear her best suit which had cost her an arm and a leg and her most expensive blouse, not to mention her best underwear, and now he expected her to do housework in it. By the time she finished it would be ruined and would be fit only for rags. Bitterly, she wondered whether he would have her scrubbing the floors next.

‘What are you looking for?’ Severus had seen her looking around.

Still annoyed about the potential ruination of her clothes, Hermione was about to mention the apron when she suddenly realised that Severus was probably leading her into a trap. She could just see the evil bastard waiting for her to complain, which would give him the perfect excuse he needed to get her to take her clothes off, and once that happened . . . . 

‘Tea towel?’ she asked glibly.

Severus frowned but pointed at a drawer. Hermione opened it and pulled out a good quality white tea towel that was at the top of a stack.

‘Anything else you need?’ he asked.

Hermione shook her head and smiled, pleased that she had outwitted him, this time at least.

‘No thank you, Severus, I’ll be fine. You go out and don’t worry about me. I’ll see you later.’

Severus looked suspiciously at Hermione, wondering what she was suddenly so happy about. He guessed it was probably because he was going out and leaving her alone for a few hours but he wasn’t sure why that made her much happier. As far as he knew he hadn’t done anything yet that she would consider reprehensible, apart from making her show him her stockings, possibly, but that was pretty tame considering what he could have demanded from her by now.

‘All right, I’ll see you later. Dinner at eight, remember?’ he reminded her.

‘Don’t worry, it’ll be ready,’ Hermione assured him. She had moved to the sink and was filling it with hot water as she spoke.

Severus watched her for a moment, enjoying looking at Hermione’s bottom encased in the tight skirt she was wearing. She really was a gorgeous woman. He was impressed she hadn’t complained about doing the housework even though she was wearing her best clothes.

She was doing well so far and their conversation this afternoon had been most interesting and informative. He looked forward to hearing further about the collaboration with the Egyptians but that would have to wait for the time being. Now he really needed to leave. He turned and walked through the kitchen door, leaving Hermione alone.

 

 

* * *

 

 

They were standing in what Hermione assumed was Severus’ bedroom. He had led her there, holding her hand, after she had cleared the table of the evening meal and washed up again. She hadn’t wanted to go and her heart was beating double time as butterflies in her stomach swooped and curled, knowing what this meant.

The room was nicely decorated and very modern, especially compared to the rest of the house, but that didn’t mean she wanted to be in here, however comfortable the bed looked.

Severus stroked her arm then released her, moving back a little to give her space as he smiled at her.

‘Take your clothes off, Hermione.’

Hermione looked at him and frowned, not moving.

‘Are you really so surprised by my request?’ he asked, sounding amused. ‘I thought I made it more than clear what I expect from you.’

Hermione frowned again. In truth, she had expected Severus to move onto the sex immediately as she assumed that was the main reason he had trapped her into this agreement in the first place. But after almost twelve hours of talking about work and, quite frankly, a fair bit of boredom, she had begun to hope that the sex part had just been a threat with which to put her off seeking his help.

‘Well come on then, get to it,’ Severus said briskly.

His voice held that sarcastic edge again and Hermione was aware that if she didn’t do as he asked it would then move into the nasty stage that she remembered so well from school. It was bad enough that she had to do this with Severus in the first place without him being mega-snarky about it.

Unhappily, she began to undo the buttons of her blouse, making it clear by her stance and expression that she was doing this only because she was being forced into it. Severus watched her for a few seconds then shook his head dismissively.

‘No, no . . . that’s no good at all. You need to put a little sensuality into the task,’ he told her, a smirk crossing his face now. ‘I want you to smoulder for me, Hermione — tempt me, tantalise me, tease me. Make me want to ravish you where you stand . . . or lie, if you want to include the bed in your show.’

‘I have no desire to tempt you nor do I want you to ravish me, Severus,’ Hermione said stiffly. ‘You know damn well I’m not doing this because I want to but because I have no choice.’

Severus gave a deep chuckle and shook his head, gazing reprovingly at her. ‘I thought we had sorted that out, Hermione. You gave your full agreement to spending twenty-four hours with me after I told you what was going to happen. It was completely your choice, there was no force involved. Not even the Wizengamot would consider it coercion.’

Hermione gave a scowl easily as deep as any that Severus could muster and continued undoing her blouse. It was true that she had agreed, she had even written to him to make it completely binding, but although she had sort of girded herself for the fact of having to have sex with him she hadn’t really considered it in any great detail. Why would she when it was something she was dreading?

She certainly hadn’t imagined that he would expect her to give him a show or that she would have to try to seduce him. It didn’t help that she wasn’t aroused in any way so she didn’t feel at all sexy, and she had always found undressing in front of someone else to be a bit embarrassing rather than sensual.

But she had agreed, and Severus had spoken, so now she had to do her best otherwise she would find herself being punished, and if there was one thing Hermione was certain of it was that punishment would not be a good option where her ex-Potions Master was concerned.

Slowly Hermione pulled the blouse from her shoulders, revealing her best underwear that he had requested her to wear, the pale pink silk of the plunge bra only just holding onto her breasts. Although she didn’t feel sexy it soon became clear that Severus’ interest had grown as he was watching her keenly, a look she couldn’t quite gauge on his face.

‘You really are beautiful, Hermione,’ he told her quietly as she spent a moment standing there in her underwear, trying to will herself to continue with the striptease.

Hermione felt herself blushing and wished Severus hadn’t complimented her. Somehow that made it so much worse, knowing that he found her attractive, that he wanted her. Forcing herself to act, she slipped the straps of the bra down and reached behind to unclasp it. She took a deep breath, trying to ignore the butterflies in her stomach, and pulled the bra off, aware that Severus was avidly following every movement, however slight.

She sat down on the bed and unclasped the hooks holding her stockings in place, half expecting Severus to tell her to stop and keep them on, the way Ron sometimes did when they made love, but he didn’t say anything.

Hermione pushed all thoughts of her husband out of her head before they could make her feel any queasier about what was happening than she already did. She rolled down each of the stockings, legs extended as she pulled them off as sensually as she was able, but she wasn’t sure how sensual that was when Severus didn’t speak or give any clue about whether he was enjoying what she was doing.

Now she was just wearing the knickers, that little scrap of a thing that just about covered her, at the front at least. She wasn’t sure how she was going to remove it while sitting down without flashing more than she wanted to. She realised she had no choice but to stand up again.

Standing once more, Hermione slid her thumbs under the tiny strings that held the knickers in place and drew them down; then when they were free of her thighs she released them, Severus’ eyes following their path as they fell around her ankles. She moved her feet slightly to kick them off, now standing naked in front of a very smug-looking Severus.

‘Turn round,’ he ordered.

Hermione immediately did as he asked, not wanting to draw more criticism or worse still punishment from him. At least this way she didn’t have to see his face as he leered at her.

‘You really do have the most delightful bottom, Hermione,’ Severus told her, his voice conversational.

Hermione bit back a gasp as his hand slowly caressed her buttocks. She was trying not to panic but she couldn’t help but remember their earlier discussion about what he would do during the twenty-four hours when he had told her he was going to have anal sex with her.

She had been telling the truth when she had said she had never tried it and didn’t want to, but now, with his gentle touch on her bottom, Severus was reminding her of his perversion and she knew she wouldn’t be able to stop him if he made her do it, however much she was against the idea.

‘You can turn round again now,’ Severus said, his voice suddenly more seductive. He had stopped stroking her.

Hermione turned back to face him, hoping that he wasn’t going to make her stand there like that for too long. But Severus continued to study her for what seemed like an eternity, without saying anything.

Embarrassed enough to begin with, Hermione was finding the attention painful and she had to fight hard not to try to cover herself up, knowing she would gain another snarky rebuke from him. Just when she had reached the point where she felt she had to say something to Severus, just to get him to do something, he turned on his heel and left the room.

Hermione stared after his retreating figure in amazement. Now what was she supposed to do?

She looked at the bed, wondering whether she should get onto it; after all, Severus had mentioned her using it as a prop to seduce him, but she wasn’t sure she wanted to seem so eager. Despite the fact that she intended to do whatever was requested of her — as she had agreed — Hermione was determined to remind Severus at every possible opportunity that she was participating purely under duress. She had no intention of allowing him the fantasy that she was with him because she wanted to be.

After ten minutes Severus still hadn’t returned. Hermione wasn’t sure whether this was because he was busy preparing himself for what was to follow, although she shuddered to think what he needed to do to prepare that took so long, or whether he had left in disgust because she hadn’t done as he requested and managed to tease and tantalise him. She sat down on the very edge of the bed to await his return.

When another five minutes had passed, Hermione went from sitting on the very edge of the bed to making herself a little more comfortable although still not making any attempt to be alluring. She had no idea what Severus was doing but she just hoped it was going to be worth the trouble he was taking. _For him, not for her,_ her mind added quickly. She didn’t care what he did or didn’t do. She wasn’t going to enjoy it.

But after yet another ten minutes had passed without Severus returning, Hermione began to worry that something had happened to him. What if the excitement of having sex for the first time in Merlin only knew how many years had been too much for him and he’d had a heart attack or something?

She rose from the bed and headed out onto the landing. There were two other doors and both of them were closed. Hermione walked across to the door opposite and knocked on it, saying Severus’ name quietly. She waited for a moment but there was no reply. She knocked again, then turned the handle of the door.

It opened, revealing a large modern bathroom with a massive corner bath, a separate and very luxurious-looking shower cubicle, a large stone hand basin and a toilet. It was spotlessly clean and immaculately tidy with no sign of any bottles, candles or any other extraneous items left lying around. Hermione admired the room for a moment but then remembered she was supposed to be looking for Severus.

She closed the door and made her way to the other room. This room, a spare bedroom decorated in a fashion equally as modern as the main bedroom, was empty, too. Hermione closed the door and wandered downstairs.      

As she went to pass the door to the lounge she realised it was open and Severus was sitting in his chair, reading a magazine. Annoyed with the man for leaving her upstairs without saying anything, Hermione stormed over to him ready to give him a piece of her mind. She was fed up with Severus’ stupid games and his attempts to throw her off-balance all the time.

‘There you are. I was wondering when you were finally going to join me,’ Severus said, his voice warm and pleasant, as he closed the magazine. He looked her up and down and Hermione remembered she was still naked.

‘It would have helped if you’d told me where you were going rather than just walking off and leaving me,’ she retorted.

Severus glanced at his watch. ‘Thirty minutes. I’m impressed that you waited that long for me . . . although it does put us a little behind schedule now.’ He gave her a smug grin. ‘Did you find the bed comfortable, Hermione?’

Hermione glared at him. ‘I don’t know, I only sat on the edge.’

Severus tutted as he stood up and replied sardonically, ‘You know that’s not true. How long did you wait before you made yourself more comfortable? Five minutes . . . ten?’

‘So, what are we doing now if we’ve got this schedule of yours to keep to?’ Hermione asked shortly, ignoring Severus’ question.

He dropped the magazine on the small rickety table.

‘You’re always so eager until you actually find out what it is we’re going to do, then you invariably become reluctant,’ he said almost chidingly. ‘Follow me.’

He led her out of the sitting room, back into the hallway and across to the door that wasn’t the kitchen. Hermione waited uncomfortably, wondering what was behind the door. Was it another bedroom or was it something worse, some kind of S&M dungeon full of chains and whips and Merlin only knew what else? She could see Severus being into that sort of thing, controlling as he was.

Severus opened the door and Hermione realised it was a laboratory. Amazingly, it looked fairly similar to the classroom where she had taken Potions lessons with him at Hogwarts with stacks of cauldrons in one corner and shelves containing bottles of ingredients all around the room.

‘I have some potions I need to complete,’ Severus told her as they entered the room. ‘I would have put them off until another time but unfortunately I’m up against a tight deadline so I have no choice but to get them done tonight.’ He looked appraisingly at Hermione for a moment as if considering. ‘You were always a better-than-fair potion maker so I think you should be able to assist me.’

Hermione bristled a little at the words ‘better-than-fair’, knowing that Severus was having a sly dig when she was unable to defend herself, as she had always been the best in his class. Then she realised he had probably said it deliberately in an attempt to wind her up after his previous comment about her reluctance to take part in the activities he had scheduled.

‘Does that mean I’ll get my wand back?’ she asked hopefully.

Severus stared at her again for a moment. ‘I think not. You can help me best by preparing the ingredients.’

Hermione’s heart sank at the thought of spending the next Merlin only knew how long cutting up ingredients, but once again she cautioned herself against complaining or seeming reluctant, reminding herself that it was better than having to entertain Severus in his bedroom. At least if they were working on making potions they wouldn’t be having sex.

‘Can I at least put my clothes back on?’ Hermione asked.

Severus shook his head. ‘No. I like seeing you naked, Hermione. Anyway, you’re not going to be cutting up anything that needs protection. I’ve already done the dangerous stuff.’ He indicated the workbench she would be working at. ‘I need you to make a start straight away on ten daisy roots and four frog’s livers. Don’t worry, you can have a shower when you’ve finished,’ he continued as he saw her grimace at the large pile of livers and other messy things that were waiting to be chopped.

Silently cursing him, Hermione made her way over to the workbench and picked up the silver knife that was lying there. After examining it to make sure it was spotlessly clean she began to work on the daisy roots, carefully slicing them into equal sized pieces, looking up every so often to see what Severus was doing.

He was fascinating to watch as he made potion brewing look like a fine art rather than the chore most people thought it was. She had to admit that she was seriously impressed. Severus had even greater skills than she had always thought. It was fascinating to see him creating a tricky or even almost impossible solution with just a few ingredients, a few sparse waves of his wand and some magical stirring abilities.

Once she finished with the ingredients for the current potion she drifted over to watch him more openly, her hopes soaring at the thought that this brilliant man was going to be joining her team and would bring so much to it.

Hermione didn’t even complain when he sent her back to the workbench to prepare more ingredients, even though her naked body was becoming covered in juice, bile and blood. It was worth it, she considered, to have the privilege of working with Severus and seeing him create such amazing potions.

For the first time since she had arrived that morning, Hermione felt content and not angry with Severus for what he was doing to her.

 

 

* * *

 

 

‘If you’ve finished you can go and put the kettle on and make the tea.’ Severus’ voice came from the shower.

He had followed her in there, causing Hermione to retreat as soon as she was clean despite wishing she could have spent a bit longer under the reviving hot water. There was no way she was risking the onset of sexual intimacy now, not when she was so close to escaping, even though Severus hadn’t actually made any attempt to touch her.

She was just about to automatically retort, asking him indignantly what his last servant had died of, when she realised that for the next three hours _she_ was still his bloody servant if he wanted her to be. She wrapped the towel around herself more snugly then left the bathroom and headed back into Severus’ bedroom, trying to work out where her clothes had got to.

Hermione hadn’t seen them since she had removed them, and although she had been with Severus the whole time he was in the laboratory she had a feeling he had hidden them so she had no choice but to walk around naked until he told her otherwise.

Crossing the room she opened his wardrobe, not surprised to find it full of the same black frock coats, trousers and white shirts he always wore. There really wasn’t anything in any other colour.

She wasn’t going to stay naked, Hermione decided, and she pulled a shirt off the hanger then unbuttoned it and laid it on the bed while she dried herself. She put on the shirt, rolling up the long sleeves, and placed the towel over the back of a chair in the corner of the room to dry. Then, knowing she had no choice, she headed for the kitchen to put on the kettle.

Fifteen minutes later Severus joined her in the kitchen. He was dressed in the usual white shirt and black trousers but the frock coat and his shoes and socks were missing. He looked interestedly at Hermione as she carried the teapot towards the kitchen table.

‘I don’t recall telling you that you could get dressed, Hermione,’ he announced, his voice tart. ‘Nor did I give you permission to go through my wardrobe and my personal possessions.’ 

Hermione couldn’t help but look a little guilty at the chastisement but she soon rallied. ‘If I knew where my clothes had been stored I would have put them on instead.’

She poured the tea into the two mugs she had already put out on the table, then placed the teapot on the table as well and sat down and picked up the milk bottle.

‘The reason your clothes are gone is because I don’t want you wearing them,’ Severus said, sounding perfectly reasonable. He used a teaspoon to stir his tea while he continued to stare intently at Hermione. ‘I want you naked, Hermione. Take off the shirt.’

Hermione looked unhappy at the request. She couldn’t understand why Severus wanted her naked when despite his earlier threats he quite clearly wasn’t going to do anything to her sexually. It was obviously just a control thing.

For a moment she thought about retaliating, ready to question why he wanted her naked when he obviously didn’t really want to touch her, but she realised that this might actually lead him to demand the sexual favours he had threatened.

There was still a little part of her that believed it was going to happen eventually, and Severus was obviously controlling this and her as he had done everything else that had happened in the previous twenty-odd hours, but she had no desire to hasten its onset. Hopefully he would wait until just before the twenty-four hours were up before he satiated his perverted desires and then they would only have to do it once.

‘I said take the shirt off, Hermione,’ Severus said, his voice flintier now. ‘Don’t make me tell you again.’

The warning in his voice was clear, so Hermione put down her tea and unbuttoned the shirt, removing it and placing it over the back of her chair. Severus watched her as avidly as he had the first time she had undressed.

‘Your hair is still a bloody mess,’ he noted, although his voice wasn’t particularly critical. ‘I thought it might look better wet.’

Hermione shook her head. ‘I only really ever get it under any sort of control if I style it when I dry it or use gallons of Sleakeasy’s hair lotion. Otherwise it just frizzes like mad.’

Severus picked up his mug, stood, and left the room. Hermione, understanding by now what was expected of her, stood too and followed him into the lounge. He was already sitting in the armchair. He had picked up the magazine and was once again flicking through it. Hermione went to sit on the sofa as far away from him as possible, but before she could sit down he lowered the magazine and looked at her.

‘You can come and sit on the floor beside me,’ he said.

Hermione thought she detected a hint of smugness in his voice. Inside, she was mentally railing against the idea of sitting at his feet like some sort of acolyte or lap dog, but although she made it clear with small sighs and slow movements that she was unhappy to be doing it, she did as requested and finally sank to the floor at his feet. She moved a little so she was mainly sitting on the rug that covered part of the floor the ugly tiles were cold on her naked skin and uncomfortable to sit on.

‘Good girl,’ Severus crooned patronisingly. He reached out a hand to stroke her hair and face.

Hermione cringed with anger and embarrassment at what he was making her do. She had to make sure she didn’t show her feelings, though. As with everything he had done to her so far she was sure Severus’ intention was to humiliate and embarrass her in order to cause a reaction and she was determined that she wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction, even at this late stage.

She was tired, too, very tired and feeling crabby from the lack of sleep. She was glad there were only a few hours left until it was all over as she was having trouble containing her temper at his stupid commands that made no logical sense.

‘What’s the matter, Hermione?’ Severus asked, his voice still smug. ‘You don’t seem very happy down there, although I’m rather enjoying it.’ He gazed salaciously at Hermione’s naked body. ‘In fact, you’re almost in the perfect position.’ He grinned like a shark.

For a moment, a thought entered Hermione’s mind — a vision of her on her knees, performing oral sex on Severus — surely that was what he was hinting at. She pushed the thought away, even now not wanting to entertain thoughts of sexual intimacy with the snide man and not intending to do anything unless he commanded it of her.

‘I’m really tired and your floor isn’t very comfortable,’ Hermione told him, aware her voice was more than a little sullen. She had to be careful with that otherwise Severus might accuse her of breaking their contract.

Severus stared at her archly for almost a minute, which made Hermione feel even more uncomfortable.

‘Would you prefer to go to bed, then?’ he asked. He smiled again.

Immediately Hermione’s heart began to beat faster. This was it. Stupidly, and because she was so tired, she had made a mistake. She had talked herself into Severus’ bed even though she hadn’t meant to do it.

She thought back to the conversation they’d had the first time she visited, remembering his crudeness — obviously designed to shock, she now realised, but still possibly feasible in the time they had left. She just hoped that he wasn’t really going to want anal sex.

‘I didn’t mean that,’ she said quickly in case Severus got the wrong idea at her stalling. ‘I just meant that being tired doesn’t do anything for my mood and being made to sit naked on a cold floor really doesn’t help.’

‘But I like you being down there,’ Severus said, his voice infuriatingly self-satisfied now. He stroked her face again. ‘But I suppose if you would rather . . . you can always go . . . back into the laboratory and begin clearing up.’

Hermione looked surprised for a moment at his release of her. She had been sure that this time . . . but this time wasn’t really any different from the way he had been treating her for the whole time she had been there, was it? Everything he had done had been to disconcert and confuse her, almost as if he was punishing her . . . or testing her.

Before he had a chance to change his mind Hermione jumped up, bending down to pick up her half full mug. She didn’t really want to clean up Severus’ laboratory, knowing what a mess had been made in there, and it would definitely mean another shower afterwards. But if he left her alone to get on with it, hopefully she could spend most if not all of her remaining time in the laboratory.

‘So eager to get away from me,’ Severus murmured as he watched Hermione head rapidly for the door. He took a sip of his tea then put the mug on the table and picked up the magazine.

 

 

* * *

 

 

‘Time’s up, Hermione,’ Severus told her quietly once she came out of the shower for the second time. ‘You’ve served your twenty-four hours. You can leave now.’

Hermione turned to look at him in confusion. ‘I don’t understand, Severus. You told me you wanted to have sex with me but then all you did was make me walk around naked. Why did you do that — why tell me you wanted sex if you didn’t?  You knew what effect it would have on me, how worried I was about it, so why be so cruel?’

Severus smirked. ‘I told you that sex would _likely_ be involved, I never said it would definitely be involved. It was your mind that made that assumption, Hermione. Anyway, as I told you at the beginning, the whole point of the exercise was to see how serious your commitment is to the project — what better way than with twenty-four hours in my total command?’

‘So you never had any intention of fucking me then?’ Hermione said grumpily. ‘All that stuff you said was just to try to wind me up?’

For some reason she couldn’t quite pin down she was feeling surprisingly annoyed that Severus hadn’t followed through on his implied demands. It wasn’t that Hermione wanted to have sex with him — she didn’t, she was sure — but she had spent so long before their meeting preparing for it to happen, reconciling her mind to the reality of cheating on her husband, and the last twenty-four hours on tenterhooks waiting for the moment when Severus would call her out on it, and the whole thing now seemed like a huge anti-climax.

Severus shrugged. ‘The thought did cross my mind. After all, you are a beautiful woman with a fine body and you are certainly incredibly arousing. But that was never the purpose of the twenty-four hours and considering your reactions to my commands it never needed to be brought into play . . . although you did come close once or twice.’ He gave Hermione a smirk. ‘Your reputation remains intact, Hermione. You’ll find your clothes in the bedroom now if you want to go and get dressed.’

‘No,’ Hermione said adamantly.

She had no real idea why she was doing what she was doing, but vaguely she understood that with his subtle suggestions and his implied potential commands Severus had aroused her, had led her to expect sexual gratification. His sudden dismissal of her made her feel in some way cheated.

‘No,’ she repeated, this time a little more forcefully, shaking her head as she spoke.

Moving forward, she wrapped her arms around Severus’ body and kissed him hard, a kiss full of the passion that completely unknown to her until now had been slowly brewing up inside her over the last day.

‘The twenty-four hours is over, Hermione,’ Severus reminded her once the kiss finished. ‘You’re free to leave.’

Hermione grabbed at him once more. ‘Shut up and take me to bed, Severus,’ she said urgently, her voice heavy with desire. Then she kissed him again.

Taking Hermione at her word, Severus picked her up and, still kissing, carried her into the bedroom and laid her gently on his bed. His lips found hers once again as her arms wrapped around his neck, pulling him down on top of her. One of his hands slid up to cup and fondle her breast, noting and enjoying the feeling of her stiffened nipple.

‘Are you sure about this, Hermione?’ he asked quietly, his voice serious now with no trace of the smugness it had previously held. ‘I told you, you’re free to leave.’ Hermione’s hands, which had already undone his shirt and were now working on his trousers, gave him all the answer he needed. ‘This is your choice,’ he whispered in her ear, his lips finding and nuzzling her neck.

‘Yes,’ Hermione confirmed, breathy and excited now. She was pulling down his trousers, attempting to free his erection from the underpants beneath. ‘I need you to fuck me . . . please.’

Severus, now excited too, helpfully aided in the removal of his clothes. He pulled off his shirt then gazed at Hermione, gently stroking her face. He smiled.

‘You really are beautiful,’ he told her.

‘Now, Severus, please. I need you,’ Hermione said urgently, her hand grasping his stiffness tightly. Severus gave a small moan at the feel of her.

Now that she had initiated the seduction, desire raged through Hermione like a torrent, the sexuality that had been suppressed inside her for the last twenty-four hours taking over her body and making her wanton. Subtly but surely Severus had built up that desire, and so clever was he that she hadn’t even realised what he was doing to her, how he was setting her up. And now, now she needed him, needed what he could give her more than she had ever needed anything before in her life.

She could feel him playing with her breasts and her arousal flared even more strongly. What she really needed now was to feel him inside her.

‘Take me, Severus,’ she whispered, trying to guide him to the place he needed to be.

‘You’re not ready,’ he said cautiously. He tried to stop her, not wanting to do anything that would ruin what was finally going to happen between them.

‘Oh, I am,’ Hermione assured him. ‘Please, Severus, just do it . . . just take me.’

Severus couldn’t say no. Hermione’s quiet pleading made his heart soar and his own body race with the tingle of desire as he finally did what he had promised and withheld for so long, both of them crying out loudly as his and Hermione’s bodies at last joined together.


	4. Three

Hermione smiled as she unlocked the door to the laboratory and went inside, using her wand to turn on the lights. She was the first one in, as always, just as she was usually the last to leave in the evening, but she was perfectly content with that.

She knew she was a bit of a control freak and had a tendency to micro-manage if she didn’t force herself to take a step back; delegation really didn’t come all that naturally to her. But being on her own during those morning and evening hours meant she could keep up to date on what her team was doing but could also keep that controlling streak in check while they were in the laboratory.

As she passed through the quiet room and into her office Hermione thought about how much she enjoyed the peace that an empty laboratory brought: the chance to sit quietly for a few minutes and consider everything she had achieved since leaving school — an opportunity to savour her accomplishments, which was something she never usually had time for.

The team were busier than ever with their research heading in interesting and, so far at least, useful directions since Severus had come on board. These days there was even less time for her to pause and reflect, to consider how things had panned out so far and what she was going to do in the future once the virus had been completely contained.

New challenges awaited her, of that Hermione was certain, but what they were and who she would face them with was something she had been trying to put off thinking about knowing the decision was likely to be a painful one that would change her life irrevocably.

It was always there in the background, pushing to be examined in greater detail, but until now Hermione had managed to ignore it, using the need to conquer the virus as an excuse to stop her facing up to the fact that her marriage was failing and there was little she could do to stop it.

There, she had finally admitted it — her marriage was a complete shambles and whatever she did someone was going to get hurt — and, unfortunately, it was probably going to be her.

It didn’t help that Severus Snape had come back into her life, a man whose work was so brilliant that her own talent was completely eclipsed. It made her determined to push herself further, to test herself in ways she had never done before, and she was enjoying both the challenge and the hard work that was required to succeed.

Her ex-Potions Master had aroused in a Hermione a zeal to excel in her chosen field that she hadn’t felt since she had been in one of his Potions lessons. But even back then she had held herself back somewhat, not wanting to make her friends feel inferior even though she knew they were as aware as she that she was streets ahead of them both in magical ability and intelligence. This time there was no reason to hold back, and Hermione knew that if she wanted to she could achieve extraordinary things in her career, especially with Severus as her mentor.

But the kindling of Hermione’s desire to excel at her profession was totally at odds with Ron’s expectation of her and with the life plan she had so assiduously mapped out at the beginning of her career, when her marriage had been new and exciting and the world had looked so hopeful after the defeat of Voldemort.

Leading a team that had contained and hopefully in the next few months would eliminate a virus that had threatened to decimate the wizarding world would have been seen as the absolute pinnacle of her career, and Hermione knew that back then she would have been happy to stop there, to take that crowning achievement and add it to her work of helping Harry to defeat Voldemort, then settle down and raise a family with Ron; still working, but with nowhere near the intensity or the sort of pressure she was currently under.    

But things had changed . . . Hermione had changed . . . and that rosy future containing children and eventually grandchildren, with a steady husband by her side and roses round the door of a pleasant cottage in the country, no longer seemed as attractive as it once had, nor did it even seem achievable in the current climate.

She was aware that Ron, who had been growing ever more dissatisfied with his own job as an Auror, had not been at all pleased when Severus’ addition to the team had meant her working even longer hours than she had previously.

Hermione knew he understood in a general way both how important the work they were undertaking was and what a boost to the project the ex-Potions Master’s presence provided, but she also knew he didn’t like Severus and wasn’t pleased with how the increase in work had impacted their marriage.

The truth was that if the virus hadn’t happened and Hermione hadn’t had the chance to head up the UK team she would probably have had children by now, her dissatisfaction at work prior to this challenge having been as great as Ron’s so she would have been happy to give it up to look after a family.

But she had been lucky — if she could call it that considering how devastating the virus was — and now her desires and Ron’s just didn’t match up any longer, putting a huge strain on what was already an exceedingly stretched relationship.

The two of them were spending very little time together these days and when they did both were so tired and usually so grumpy with each other that there was very little in the way of romantic feeling between them.

Hermione didn’t even want to spend time with Ron now in case he brought up the subject of children; she knew he was still as keen to start a family as she was to continue with her career. It only caused arguments that left her in tears and him staring sullen and angry at the _Daily Prophet_ until they slipped into bed, lying in silence, side by side only because there was nowhere else for either of them to go — neither of them wanted to sleep on the uncomfortable sofa.

She knew the situation was untenable in the long run, but cowardice stopped her from facing up to the problem head-on and so she hid behind her work, using it as an excuse to spend even more time in the laboratory and less in the poky little flat she and Ron shared, that she wasn’t certain was actually home any longer.

There was another area for consideration too, one that was potentially even more urgent than the problems with her career and marriage, but Hermione was loath to give it any space in her mind. There was already enough going on without adding that pressure. She knew the problem she was steadfastly ignoring was at least as volatile, intertwined with the other issues as it was, but at the moment she didn’t even want to acknowledge what was happening let alone work out where things were going to go.

Hermione rubbed her sore, tired eyes, then took a sip of the large caramel latte she had bought on her way into the office. The magical world could do many things but it couldn’t get a decent cup of coffee right. Fortunately, there were several good Muggle coffee shops on her route to the Ministry of Magic so she didn’t have to put up with the rubbish they served down in the staff restaurant.

She tore open the paper bag containing the almond croissant she had bought for breakfast, gazing at it for a few seconds as she continued to drink her coffee. She really wasn’t hungry. Wrinkling her nose slightly, she re-wrapped the pastry in the bag and pushed it aside, then pulled a red manila file towards her, opening it to study the contents: a detailed resume of what each of her team members was currently working on. She concentrated on the report for several minutes until a small bell from the clock on the wall sounded the hour.

Almost subconsciously Hermione processed the sound of the clock, her breathing shallowing slightly as her pulse quickened, her heart beating faster, the whole causing her to feel a little lightheaded. She dropped the file and took another calming draught of coffee before looking up expectantly at the door.

‘Good morning, Hermione. How are you today?’

Severus was there, lounging in the doorway, his long dark hair falling over his face as he watched her insouciantly.

‘Severus! I’m well, thank you. I hope you are, too?’

The tall, dark-haired man smiled as he walked into the room, closing the door behind him. Hermione got up from behind her desk and went to join him.

‘Better now,’ he crooned softly as he pulled Hermione into his arms, their lips meeting as Hermione wrapped her arms around him in return.

‘That seemed like an extremely long weekend,’ Severus told her once the initial kiss had concluded. ‘I’ve got a massive case of blue balls.’

Hermione shook her head, grinning slightly. ‘Ever the romantic, Severus.’

He shrugged and gave a small laugh. ‘What do you want me to say? That I’ve missed you and that I hated being away from you for so long? You already know that’s the case, Hermione, so what’s the point in restating it? Anyway, I think my comment made the point more succinctly.’  

‘You don’t always have to be so cynical about everything, you know. Some of us like a bit of romance,’ Hermione pointed out.

Severus lifted her onto her desk, then kissed her again, his hands moving to slide up her skirt, searching for her knickers. Hermione pulled him closer, her hands reaching to undo the buttons on his trousers as he removed her underwear.

‘I don’t think romance is what you’re after at the moment, is it, Hermione?’ Severus asked quietly as he moved closer still, a smug grin on his face.

Hermione wrapped her arms around his neck at the same time as she wrapped her legs around his waist.

‘Shut up and fuck me, there’s a good boy,’ she told him in a whisper, just a moment before their lips met again.

 

 

* * *

 

 

Although Severus had been confident that his subtle but incessant manipulation of Hermione during her twenty-four hours in his command would lead to the desired outcome — namely her throwing herself at him and begging him for sex, despite the fact she’d had no desire to do so at the start of their incarceration together — he had not expected to enjoy the encounter anywhere near as much as he had done.  

It wasn’t that Severus didn’t enjoy sex. He did and had never, despite rumours to the contrary, had a problem finding willing partners to fulfil his every need. But Lily was now a long time dead, and with the successful conclusion of the war ending the obligation he had felt towards Harry Potter because of his love for her he had finally been able to move on and live a productive life in the way he wanted.

Up until now this hadn’t included a romantic relationship as he considered them stifling and enjoyed the freedom and variety that different lovers brought, but after the time he had spent with Hermione at Spinner’s End  — almost forty-eight hours by the time she finally left him — Severus had begun to change his mind about having someone in his life more permanently.

He had enjoyed Hermione’s company, despite the fact he had been playing with her mind. She was intelligent and gifted and still had the potential to do so much with her life if only she didn’t let her useless great lump of a husband drag her down. But more than her company Severus had enjoyed her body and the lovemaking they had shared, and he was loath to let go of this beautiful woman who fitted him so perfectly.

Severus had considered, fortunately only briefly, insisting that sexual intimacy with her be part of his contract for working with the virus team; but having won Hermione over he didn’t want to jeopardise their fragile new relationship by making her uncomfortable again.

Instead he had struck a slightly different deal, agreeing to join the project as a consultant, working three days a week at the laboratory in London with Hermione and her team where he could interact with both them and the other worldwide teams, exchanging ideas and information. The other two days he would spend at Spinner’s End, working both on his own ongoing projects and assessing the information he had gathered whilst in the laboratory.

Because of this arrangement Severus only saw Hermione on the days he was in London but he was hopeful that eventually he might be able to draw her back to Spinner’s End occasionally, and if that happened, then who knew what might occur between them.

He hadn’t been in London long when Severus realised that Hermione wasn’t very happy in her marriage. If he was being honest, he had suspected that things weren’t quite right between her and her husband when she had been so easy to lure into bed, where the intensity of her desire pointed to a distinct lack of intimacy between her and Weasley.

You only had to follow the pattern of Hermione’s working hours — early into the laboratory and extremely late home — to understand that she was trying to avoid spending any time with her husband. Severus had seized on this opportunity, ensuring that he, too, arrived at the laboratory earlier than the rest of the team and that he stayed as late as Hermione wanted to work.

At first he had held his tongue, neither mentioning her husband and seemingly fragile marriage nor anything about his desire for her. But within a couple of months Hermione had become used to Severus being at the laboratory when no one else was, so he had made his move.

It had coincided with the discovery of a significant piece of information that had completely changed the landscape for their research and was yielding positive results.

The UK team had taken an uncharacteristic break and were celebrating in a local pub. Hermione had promised to join them but wanted to review the findings again first as she needed to make a report to the Minister for Magic and wanted to be certain that what they were saying was correct.

Severus remained behind as well, feigning the need to visit a friend in another department although he, too, promised that he would eventually join the others for their celebration. He gave Hermione a short time alone, long enough for her to establish that the information was accurate, then wandered back to the laboratory to join her.

‘You’ve done it,’ he said, sounding pleased, as he entered her office. ‘This is what we were waiting for.’

Hermione looked up from where she was sitting on the corner of her desk still reading the report. She looked happy and her eyes were glistening. Severus wondered whether she was about to cry.

‘If it works,’ she replied quietly. ‘Until you brew the potion and we test—’

‘The report speaks for itself,’ Severus said, cutting her off. ‘Everything we do now will just confirm the facts.’

He moved closer, pulling Hermione up from the desk, wrapping his arms tightly around her as he bent to kiss her. Hermione kissed him back but then tried to pull away, looking anxiously towards the open office door.

‘What are you doing, Severus?’

He chuckled. ‘Congratulating you on an extraordinary piece of work.’

Severus had noticed Hermione’s glance at the door so he pulled his wand from his pocket and closed it, leaving the two of them alone in her office.

‘No one saw us, Hermione,’ he assured her gently. ‘They’ve all gone to the pub. You and I are the only ones still here.’

Severus kissed her again, pressing himself against her, making clear his desire for her.

‘Let’s celebrate properly,’ he whispered as his hands slid down her thighs heading for the bottom of her skirt.

‘I need to read this so I can report to Kingsley,’ Hermione retorted, indicating the folder that was still on her desk.

‘You can do that later. You won’t be seeing him today because he’s tied up with the President of MACUSA. They’re still trying to bash out some deal about the carpet sellers from Baghdad.’

Hermione looked at him in astonishment. ‘How on earth do you know all this, Severus? You’re hardly ever here yet you always know exactly what’s going on.’

Severus smirked. ‘Friends in the right places,’ he said. ‘Now, are you going to let me make love to you before we go to the pub?’

‘I don’t think that’s a good idea,’ Hermione said, sounding anxious. She tried to push his hands away from her skirt.

‘That’s not what you said at Spinner’s End,’ Severus said. A wicked grin covered his face. ‘You couldn’t get enough of me then. You were very passionate.’

Hermione flushed deep scarlet. ‘I thought we’d agreed we weren’t going to mention Spinner’s End. It was a mistake and it should never have happened.’

‘Oh, come on, Hermione,’ Severus crooned, pulling her close once more. ‘You know as well as I do that there was no mistake. You wanted me every bit as much as I wanted you . . . and it was perfect.’

‘I’m married,’ Hermione reminded him with a hiss.

‘And that didn’t matter to you either at the time,’ Severus pointed out. 

‘You manipulated me,’ Hermione accused.

Severus shrugged. He was still grinning. ‘Maybe. But if you were happy with Weasley you wouldn’t have been tempted, whatever I did. All I did was start the itch, it was your choice to scratch it.’

‘But that doesn’t mean we should compound the error,’ Hermione said.

Severus wrapped his arms around her more tightly and squeezed her.

‘We both enjoyed it and it relaxed you, which you definitely need with the stress you’re under at the moment. Whatever you might try to believe, Weasley doesn’t understand what you’re going through and never will, you know that, Hermione.’

‘He’s always been supportive of my work,’ Hermione said defensively.

‘But he doesn’t understand it.’

Severus hugged her close and squeezed her again, his forehead resting against Hermione’s.

‘Do you really want me to let go of you?’ he asked softly.

Hermione sighed as she pulled back to stare at him, then she shook her head.

‘No,’ she whispered.

Severus pulled her to him, his mouth finding hers as his hands began to move again.

 

 

* * *

 

 

There had been guilt in the beginning — on Hermione’s side, not Severus’. It seemed to him that in her opinion Spinner’s End had been relief from the mind games he had played on her and therefore didn’t count on her scale of infidelity, despite having occurred over the space of several hours and including far more intimate acts than the two of them frantically rutting on a desk late one afternoon.

But although she had finally accepted that she needed to have sex with him, afterwards Hermione had become withdrawn and anxious and Severus had to work hard to convince her that she wasn’t a terrible person for wanting some happiness in her life, however briefly.  

Severus wanted Hermione in his life, wanted her with a passion he had never realised he could feel again, and he wasn’t prepared to let Hermione’s emotions ruin what he knew could be a wonderful relationship if she would just give it a chance. But there was more to it than that. He was determined she would reach her potential career-wise, too.

Initially he pushed, wanting to make Hermione see that she was unhappy because of her marriage that didn’t fit at all with the life she now so wanted to lead, but that had done nothing but annoy and upset her more.

Worried that she might cede to Weasley’s wishes of giving up on her career and starting a family if he continued down that path, Severus had backed off completely for a few weeks, giving Hermione a chance to come to terms with what was happening between them.

After a time he began to make advances towards her, subtly and without any fuss, making clear with his words and sly touches when no one else was around that anything that happened between them would be through her choice alone. This worked far better than he had expected, although Weasley’s seeming disappointment at the team’s success when he realised that nothing would now stop Hermione in her job had effectively sealed the deal.

Severus made sure he was there for Hermione whenever she needed him, whether to talk through a work problem or, increasingly often, to get away from Weasley and his moaning.

Slowly they came together as a couple, and when they eventually made love again the guilt seemed to have disappeared although Severus was well aware that Hermione was using her ever-increasing workload to ignore the breakdown happening between her and her husband.

Once the barrier was broken it was like a river spilling over its banks. Their passion drove them entirely and made them both insatiable. They were making love so often that Severus considered returning to the laboratory full time — the days when he was away from Hermione seemed long and tedious, even with interesting new potions to brew.

However, he was aware that the break was one of the things that kept their relationship fresh so he had reluctantly given up on the idea . . . until now.

The long weekend he had just spent away from Hermione, extended by a bank holiday that seemed to stretch on forever and an extra day that he’d had no choice but to spend sorting out his own business, had convinced Severus that he needed more than the secret frenetic sex they abandoned themselves to whenever the opportunity arose.

He wanted Hermione to be his exclusively, for the two of them to begin a new life together where he could assist her in reaching her full potential without needing to worry about treading on anyone else’s sensitive toes.

Severus was aware that it might not be the best time to bring the subject up, but with the project looking likely to succeed in its objectives within the next few months he was running out of time, and he knew there would never be a good time to talk as far as Hermione was concerned.

As with everything he had done in his life he was just going to have to take a chance and hope that what he and Hermione now shared was greater than her unfulfilling life with Weasley.

 

 

* * *

 

 

‘I was being honest when I told you I’d missed you, Hermione. We really have been apart for too long,’ Severus admitted, candidly for him, once he and Hermione finally separated, both panting slightly from the energetic lovemaking which had given them both total satisfaction.

Hermione picked up her coffee and took a sip, trying to calm down despite the fact that her heart was suddenly racing even faster than it had been a moment earlier; still pounding from the vigorous exercise they had just undertaken and now from Severus’ words.

She noticed her hand shake slightly and put the cup down again, hoping Severus wouldn’t notice as a swirling nausea-inducing feeling appeared in her stomach.

Despite their attraction for each other Severus had never been one for romance and sweet words, not even while they were having sex, and since the earliest days they had never discussed what was happening between them or how they felt about each other. The fact that he was suddenly being so overt could only mean that the problem she had so assiduously avoided thinking about was about to rear its ugly head.

Hermione wasn’t ready to deal with it, whatever Severus wanted to say.

‘I need to get ready for a meeting with Adriana, Peter, Mohammad and Elena to discuss where we are with the trial of the latest batches of the potion. I’ve got a lot to do—’

‘Don’t change the subject, Hermione. I want to talk to you,’ Severus said commandingly.

He moved towards her, blocking Hermione from leaving the office as she had intended to do.

‘I really haven’t got time to talk to you now, I’ve got too much to do, Severus. I told you I’m meeting with the other team heads,’ she told him, her stomach roiling worse than ever. There was no way she wanted this conversation: not now and not ever if she could manage it.

‘You mean you don’t want to talk to me.’ Severus’ voice was soft but held a steely undertone. ‘We need to work out what we’re going to do. We can’t carry on like this forever, you know. We’re going to get caught eventually and I’m sure you don’t want everyone finding out that we’re fucking each other on the sly.’ He paused for a second then added, ‘Anyway, you must know by now how I—’

‘Not now,’ Hermione cut in hurriedly, her voice pleading for Severus to stop as she shook her head. She glanced at the clock knowing that the first of her team would be coming through the laboratory door in only a few minutes. ‘There’s no time now. I’ve got too much to do and the others will be arriving shortly.’

She passed him and opened the door.

‘So when, then?’ Severus asked. He had moved close enough to take hold of Hermione’s arm and was staring at her with something close to anger. ‘When can we talk about it, Hermione? I’m not willing to let things to go on as they have been. It’s not fair on any of us. We need to talk about the future.’

Hermione stared at him with sad eyes. ‘I can’t,’ she whispered. ‘Please, Severus, let me go. I need to prepare for this meeting. I can’t think about anything else at the moment.’

As Severus was about to respond Hermione pulled her arm from his grasp just as the door opened and Lisa Steele, Stephen Fawley and Osbert Selwyn bustled in, talking loudly as they made their way into the laboratory.

Hermione left the office to join them, forcing a tight smile onto her face as she said hullo to them. Severus followed her a few seconds later, joining in with the conversation as the team greeted him effusively.

After a quick catch-up Hermione left them to it, excusing herself as she dashed from the laboratory desperately needing some fresh air and some time to think — about the upcoming meeting, not about her and Severus.


	5. Four

The meeting had been upbeat and informative and Hermione was pleased with the progress she had been able to report about on behalf of her team. The Australians had already begun testing the potion Severus had provided and were reporting promising results in line with the ones her team had been seeing.

The Bulgarians had tweaked the recipe slightly, which had yielded a completely different but almost as interesting set of results. The Egyptians, who had been working on yet another variation of the recipe, were about ready to test their potion and expected to have something to report at the next meeting. The Brazilians were working on another area of research which seemed almost as promising as the potion currently under test and were hopeful that even if the virus mutated again in the later stages of testing, this would be another strand they could immediately follow up with.

Hermione rejoined her team ready to provide a briefing on what she had learnt, feeling optimistic about the way the project was going but with that same feeling of dread still eating away inside her at the thought of having to talk to Severus.

She was safe for the time being as she was certain that he wouldn’t discuss it while the rest of the team were around, but it would only be a matter of time before they were alone again and then nothing she could do would forestall the conversation any longer.

But Hermione still didn’t want to think about it, didn’t want to consider the questions she needed to tackle before she could sensibly discuss things with Severus. She needed to concentrate on her work and nothing else — even if it meant leaving early and going home to Ron and yet more arguments, so she didn’t get caught alone with Severus.

The team had been waiting eagerly for her arrival, all seemingly in good spirits even before they heard the latest news. Hermione had noticed that Severus being at the laboratory always seemed to boost the mood of everyone he came into contact with — such a marked difference from the effect he used to have on his students during his time at Hogwarts.

She smiled gratefully as Jack Sloper provided her with a mug of tea and Catherine Wood cleared a space for her to sit down in the centre of their work area. Within minutes the whole team had assembled and Hermione took them through the main points of the meeting, answering questions and clarifying the reports. By the time the briefing was over Hermione had almost forgotten about the unwanted conversation.

Severus hadn’t, though.

Within only a few minutes of Hermione returning to her office he was knocking on her door, determined that this time she wouldn’t get away. Hermione, with no reason now to leave the laboratory, tried vainly to stop him from entering but was unable to be too abrasive without risking the curiosity of the rest of the team.

Hermione knew that some of the older members of the team were aware that there was a ‘history’ between her and Severus, mainly because of her friendship with Harry, which occasionally brought up some uncomfortable arguments between them especially when Severus felt she wasn’t working to her full potential, but as far as she was aware the team had no idea about their late night and early morning activities and she wasn’t about to let them in on the secret.

She sat down behind her desk, trying to quell the sudden feeling of nausea as Severus closed the door behind him.

‘Now really isn’t the time,’ she told him wearily, hoping to make him realise that she wasn’t eager to talk to him.

‘When is the time?’ Severus asked somewhat tersely. ‘Now seems as good a time as any to me. At least you can’t run away and try to ignore me this time.’

‘The team are out there,’ Hermione reminded him, her voice a sharp hiss.

‘Yes, and they think I’m talking to you about the project,’ Severus replied sensibly. ‘They don’t care what we’re talking about. They’ve got work to do and they’re busy with that. But they’ll soon start to care if we don’t talk and don’t get this sorted out. I can’t go on like this, Hermione. It’s going to affect my and everyone else’s work, and sooner rather than later.’

Hermione looked pained. ‘I can’t talk about this with you, Severus. Not now. I’m not ready.’

‘When, then?’ Severus repeated the question he had asked her earlier. ‘When _are_ you going to be ready, Hermione? You hide behind your work so you don’t have to face up to what’s happening in your personal life but you can’t do that forever. You need to stop hiding and make some firm decisions.’

He took a moment to calm himself, aware his temper was rising and that arguing would do no good, then stared at Hermione, his eyes boring into hers, not allowing her to look away.

‘I love you, Hermione.’

Severus paused for a moment to let the words sink in, then before she could respond he continued, ‘I honestly never thought I would say those words to anyone and it’s not something I’ve looked for, I can assure you. But you came along and changed my world in so many ways and I really can’t imagine you not being part of my life now.

‘I don’t want to sneak around, fucking you on the desk when we get a quiet moment early in the morning or late at night when everyone else has gone home. I want to take you to bed, want to go to sleep with you at night and wake up with you in the morning. I want to love you and support you in your career, want to help you reach heights you’ve never even dreamed of achieving.

‘. . . I want to marry you!’

Hermione stared at him in shock. She had known that Severus wanted something more than the casual liaison that she had steadfastly refused to consider as anything serious, but she hadn’t realised that the taciturn and sometimes witheringly sarcastic man had actually fallen in love with her.

She was stunned to admit that she had no idea how she felt about him as she had so fiercely rejected thinking about it. It took her breath away and caused that fluttering in both her heart and her stomach to begin again. How could Severus be in love with her?

‘I’m already married,’ she blurted out, feeling stupid even as she said it.

After everything he had just admitted to her that was the best she could come out with? It wasn’t even as if she and Ron had a decent marriage. They hardly spoke anymore and they certainly didn’t have sex — in fact, they hadn’t had sex since well before she had spent the twenty-four hours at Spinner’s End.

But the whole thing was overwhelming and Hermione couldn’t process her own feelings in light of what Severus had just said without time to think seriously and work out what she wanted . . . what she needed to do. What she had told him was correct, she wasn’t ready to talk, and now, thanks to his confession, she wasn’t at all sure when she would be.

‘Is that it?’ Severus asked in amazement, his tone bitter and argumentative. ‘That’s your entire contribution to the discussion, is it: you’re already married? Let’s face it, Hermione, Weasley’s no good for you — he never has been and he’s not going to get any better in the future. He doesn’t make you happy, doesn’t give you the support you need, and he’s probably completely shit in bed as well since you’re fucking me at every available opportunity.’

‘I told you I wasn’t ready to have this discussion with you, Severus,’ Hermione told him. ‘You were the one who forced it so you only have yourself to blame if I don’t give you the answer you want.’

‘So are you saying you want to stay with him, then?’ Severus demanded, his voice growing louder.

Hermione sighed and rubbed her eyes again. ‘I’m not saying anything one way or another. I told you, I haven’t even thought about _anything_ to do with my private life since the project began. Until this virus is eliminated or at least held in check there’s nothing more important than my work.’

‘That’s bollocks,’ Severus retorted angrily. ‘You spend most of your life in this laboratory and don’t tell me it’s because you’re thinking about the bloody virus. You’re just trying to escape your crap marriage; trying to keep away from the husband who doesn’t understand you and doesn’t give you what you need.

‘I give you _everything_ you need and until now I’ve never pushed it, but I can’t stand it any longer. You need to make a decision. Are you going to leave Weasley and make a fresh start with me or do we end it and I’ll go back to Spinner’s End and blessed solitude?’

‘That’s not fair, Severus. You can’t expect me to make such a major decision on the spur of the moment like that. I need time to think about things, to consider what’s best.’

‘You need to leave Weasley and come and live with me,’ Severus said bluntly.

‘I’m not prepared to make a decision that important without serious consideration,’ Hermione rebutted.

There was a knock on the door and the argument ceased abruptly as Hermione suddenly realised that she and Severus had been shouting at each other. She was glaring at him across the desk, just as he was scowling at her.

Severus looked away from her and went to open the door. Charlotte Jewster, youngest of the team and too young to have known Severus as a teacher and hence unused to his scowl, was standing there looking tremulous.

His face returned to its usual far milder state as he made to usher her inside the office. Charlotte shook her head, not wanting to enter. She had heard the raised voices but had been unable to discern the actual words although it was clear an argument of some sort was in progress. She swallowed, slightly anxious at having interrupted them.

‘I’m sorry to disturb you but your husband’s here, Hermione,’ she said quietly. ‘He’s come to take you to lunch.’

‘Ron’s here?’ Hermione sounded a little surprised.

Charlotte nodded.

‘Okay, thanks, Charlotte. I’ll be out in a minute. Severus and I have finished now, anyway.’

Charlotte hurried away, eager to leave the unpleasant atmosphere of the office behind. Hermione stood up and made her way around the desk.

Trying to keep her voice calm and conciliatory she told Severus, ‘I will think about it seriously, I promise you I will. But you have to give me time, Severus.’

He glanced out at the laboratory, making sure no one was listening to them, then leant close to Hermione, his voice low but still bearing traces of his anger.

‘I’ll give you until next Monday to make your decision.’ Hermione looked as if she was about to protest but Severus shook his head, warning her not to speak. ‘That gives you the best part of a week to think about things. It honestly shouldn’t take that long, not when you really consider it properly, but I’ll give you that much time as I’m a generous man.’

Without another word he left the office, smiling as he made his way over to where the team was working, briefly hailing Weasley on his way. Inside he was fuming although he knew he was being slightly unfair to Hermione in expecting her to make an immediate decision because of his declaration of love. He still thought he was right, though. She would be better off with him, and seeing Weasley now, dishevelled and looking weary and stressed, he was even more convinced.

Hermione emerged now, too, and walked over to Ron and kissed him on the cheek, ignoring the glare she was certain Severus would be throwing her way at the gesture.

‘What are you doing here?’ she asked, trying to keep her voice light rather than accusatory. It was extremely rare that Ron came to the laboratory, especially to invite her to lunch.

‘I thought we could have lunch,’ Ron said. There was a slightly pleading tone to his voice as if he thought Hermione might refuse him.

Hermione, seeing the invitation as an opportunity to escape from Severus and his unreasonable demands, smiled. ‘That would be nice. Come on then.’

She took his arm and the two of them left the laboratory.

 

 

* * *

 

 

‘So why did you want to have lunch with me? It’s a bit unexpected . . . and unusual,’ Hermione said, sounding curious, once they were seated in a Muggle café down the road from the Ministry of Magic.

‘Am I not allowed to take my wife to lunch, then?’ Ron asked.

Hermione gave him a weak smile. ‘Of course you are, but it doesn’t happen very often, does it?’

Ron grinned back. ‘I think I saved you back there, didn’t I?’ When Hermione looked confused he added, ‘It sounded like you were in the middle of a right barnstormer with old Snape.’

Hermione shrugged, trying to look nonchalant, but her heart was suddenly pounding again. Had Ron heard what she and Severus were talking about?

‘It was just a slight disagreement, that’s all. Nothing to write home about. You know what Severus is like . . . so sometimes we don’t see eye to eye.’

‘I dunno why you insist on working with him,’ Ron said, his nose wrinkling with the disgust he still felt for the ex-Potions Master.

‘Because he’s brilliant,’ Hermione replied fervently. ‘You know he’s the best potion-maker in the country, maybe even the world, and he’s been a breath of fresh air for the project. He’s made such a difference to the team. Things are finally looking hopeful. I can actually say that we’re within a couple of months of getting a cure for the virus . . . just as long as it doesn’t mutate again.’

‘So, maybe it’s time to let him go back to his life in the Muggle world,’ Ron suggested.

Hermione frowned. ‘Why? We’re not there yet and we need Severus.’

‘Do you? Are you sure you’re not just projecting onto him? _You’re_ brilliant, Hermione, and you don’t need that greasy git coming in and taking all the credit for your hard work.’

Hermione shook her head and gave a small sigh. ‘He honestly isn’t doing that, Ron. Far from it. He’s doing everything he can to keep his name out of it. You know he didn’t collect his Order of Merlin award, and he wouldn’t even agree to come to work in the laboratory until I guaranteed that he wouldn’t be pestered by anyone wanting to talk about his role in the battle against Voldemort.

‘He’s only spoken to Kingsley once or twice since he’s come back, but he’s made such a difference to morale, and not just to our team either. Severus has increased the productivity of all the teams and his latest potion could turn out to be a lifesaver — quite literally.’

‘But if you’re arguing with him as much as you were earlier is it worth the hassle? Especially if you’re that close to finding the cure?’

‘Today was quite an unusual occurrence,’ Hermione admitted. ‘Normally it’s just a small disagreement here and there.’ She crossed her fingers under the table as she added, ‘I’m not really entirely sure what caused today’s argument but I’m certain things will be back to normal by the time I get back.’

‘What do you want to eat?’ Ron asked. He was now studying the menu and Hermione was fairly certain that he hadn’t heard her last comment.

Hermione looked at her own menu for a few seconds. ‘I’m not sure,’ she mused.

‘I think I’m going to go for some pasta. The chicken, bacon and mushroom bake sounds quite interesting,’ Ron said.

Hermione ran her eye down the list. She still wasn’t feeling hungry. In fact, if anything she felt rather queasy although she knew that was just a hangover from her argument with Severus.

‘I’m going to have a ham and mushroom omelette with a side salad,’ she announced, ‘and a cup of tea, too.’

Ron raised his hand to indicate to the waitress that they were ready to order. A couple of minutes later she was gone and he and Hermione were looking down at the stainless steel cutlery wrapped in red napkins and a white ceramic bowl containing various sachets of sauce. Another few minutes passed and the waitress returned with two white mugs, both containing tea, the strings of the teabags hanging over the side as they steeped in the milky water.

‘I’ve decided to leave the Ministry,’ Ron proclaimed once the waitress had left again.

He prodded at his teabag with the teaspoon for a moment before looking warily at Hermione, trying to gauge her reaction to the announcement.  

Hermione stared at him in astonishment. She had known for a long time that Ron was unhappy in his work as an Auror but had never expected him to do anything about it. She wasn’t entirely sure how she felt about this revelation, especially coming so closely after Severus’ announcement.

‘Well, you’ve been disenchanted with the job for ages, haven’t you?’ she replied, sounding sympathetic, as she removed the teabag from her own cup and stirred the tea. ‘I’m sort of surprised it’s taken you this long to decide to go. I thought you might leave after Neville went.’

Ron shrugged. ‘I didn’t mind it too much then, but it’s been wearing me down for a couple of years now and I really don’t think I can take any more.’

‘So what are you going to do instead?’ Hermione asked. Her face assumed a slight frown. ‘I suppose you have got something else lined up?’

Ron’s face lit up as he nodded happily, looking more animated than Hermione had seen him in a long time.

‘I’m going to work with George. He needs help running the shop, especially as he’s about to open a new branch in Hogsmeade. He’s buying Zonko’s old place.’

Hermione nodded in what she hoped was an interested manner, encouraging Ron to continue. The waitress reappeared with their plates of food and Hermione felt her stomach give a small rumble as she studied her meal. It looked quite good and she was now glad that she had ordered something to eat.

‘I’ve thought about it for a while,’ Ron admitted as he delved into his pasta, a plume of steam rising from the hot meal. ‘But you know George was having a really tough time getting over Fred and I didn’t want to get in the way of the grieving process. Now he’s hooked up with Angelina and they’re getting married so I assumed he’d be a bit more open to the suggestion, and he was.’ He chuckled. ‘He was really pleased, actually. As I said, he’s expanding and could do with another pair of hands.’

He ate for several minutes before adding, ‘I think it’ll really suit me, working at the shop with George.’

Hermione sat quietly, eating her own meal as Ron talked. She, too, thought Ron was making the right decision and was glad that George was giving his brother the opportunity to leave a job he loathed to take one that he would probably revel in.

‘I think you’ve made a good choice,’ she told him. Ron looked relieved that she wasn’t annoyed with him for his decision. ‘What did Harry say?’

Ron shrugged again. ‘He knows how I’ve been feeling so I don’t think he was too surprised. The job suits him down to the ground and he’s going to be made the head of the department shortly, I expect, but he knows it was getting me down. He’s pleased for me, as is Ginny.’

‘Have you told your mum?’ Hermione asked.

Ron shook his head. ‘Not yet. I wanted to tell you first, and I thought we could break it to her on Sunday. We’ve been invited for lunch, along with the rest of the family. I suspect she’ll be a bit disappointed that I’m leaving the Ministry.’

‘She’ll realise that you’re making the right decision,’ Hermione said, hoping her voice didn’t sound as flat as she felt.

Although she loved the Weasley family, all of them en masse could be a little wearing, especially when she wasn’t feeling particularly in synch with Ron, and the idea of spending the day with them, especially when she had so much vital work to do — and an important decision to make — didn’t fill her with joy.

‘Yeah, you’re probably right, and I suppose George can reassure her too,’ Ron agreed happily as he finished the last of his pasta, washing it down with the remnants of his tea.

He sat back for a few minutes and watched Hermione finish her salad, then ordered a portion of apple pie and custard and another two teas. Hermione turned down the offer of a pudding, now stuffed after the meal.

‘So now that I’m moving jobs and you’re getting to the end of your project I thought we could start thinking about the future,’ Ron posited as he tucked into the dessert with gusto.

Hermione stared at him through narrowed eyes, her heart sinking and the queasy feeling suddenly rising within her once more as she removed the teabag from her cup.

‘What do you mean?’ she asked quietly, hoping that she didn’t sound too hostile.

If she did, Ron clearly hadn’t noticed, buoyed as he was by his impending move to Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes.

‘You said the project is coming to an end shortly,’ Ron pointed out. ‘George is planning on opening the new shop in about six months’ time, once it’s been completely gutted and redecorated. I think he’s going to offer me the chance to run it and I thought it might be a good time for a new start for us.’

He gazed at Hermione hopefully.

Hermione’s heart sank even further. ‘When you say a new start—’

‘Well, hopefully you’ll have finished the project by then,’ Ron enthused, clearly envisaging in his mind his plans for their future. ‘We can move to Hogsmeade. There’s a flat above the shop, although if things go well we can probably afford to get a house there eventually. I thought you might like to take some time off — to bask in your well-deserved glory after finding a cure for the virus. Then, if you want, you can help me in the shop. It would be great if we worked there together.’

Hermione didn’t say anything as she sipped her tea, trying to imagine working in a joke shop in Hogsmeade with Ron. It didn’t matter what type of spin she tried to put on it, the idea filled her with dread. At best she knew she would find it tedious, at worst it would be a complete nightmare, having to deal with all those customers, mainly children, who found the joke products amusing in a way she never could.

‘Hogsmeade would be a great place for us to bring up kids, too,’ Ron continued expressing his thoughts, not realising that Hermione wasn’t embracing the idea as wholeheartedly as he was. ‘Now the project’s close to finishing we can finally think about having a baby . . . or several. I have to admit that I’d really like a whole brood, but that’s probably because I’m from a big family. Two or three would be good, though.’

Hermione sank lower in her seat as the ideas Ron was suggesting washed over her like a tsunami. She knew there had been a time when she first married him that the things he was talking about would have been as appealing to her as they were to him. Not the joke shop, though. Despite her admiration for the impressive magic the twins had achieved with their products, Hermione had always been too staid to enjoy the joke shop, but she would happily have moved to Hogsmeade with Ron and started a family.

Now she couldn’t even envisage the two of them sharing a house in Hogsmeade, let alone working and living in a flat above the joke shop; and the idea of having children, and no doubt being expected to stay at home to raise them, left her feeling as if she wanted to cry. The problem was that if she told Ron what she was really thinking she would burst his bubble and yet another argument, which she really couldn’t face today, would surely ensue.

Instead, she smiled weakly and drank her tea.

‘I know I’m springing all of this on you a bit, but I thought it would give you a chance to think about it, especially if the project’s coming to an end,’ Ron said as he put down his spoon, having finished his dessert. He took hold of Hermione’s hand and squeezed it as he smiled at her again. ‘I know things have been a bit difficult between us recently, Hermione, but this could be what we need — a new start. New jobs, a new home, a family. This could really turn things around for us.’

Hermione allowed him to hold her hand for a few minutes but when his hopeful expression became too much for her to take she pulled away and stood up, looking at her watch.

‘I need to get back to work. I had a meeting with the other teams this morning and I promised I would give Kingsley an update on where we are.’

Ron stood up too, looking a little deflated. Hermione smiled at him again, a real smile this time.

‘Thank you for telling me about your decision to move jobs. I think it’s a good choice and Hogsmeade’s a nice place to live.’ _If a bit in the back end of beyond_ , her mind added silently. ‘I don’t know yet what’s happening with the project or what will happen after but it’s good to know there are options available.’

Ron looked a little mollified. ‘I’ll pay the bill. Can you wait a minute or do you need to go?’

‘I can wait,’ Hermione confirmed, although she would have given anything at that moment to be able to run away.

Ron went to the counter and paid, then took Hermione’s hand as they went out into the street.

‘I know you’re always a bit twitchy when I mention children,’ he said tentatively, ‘and I don’t want to start another argument, really I don’t, but I think starting a family would be a good thing for us, Hermione, especially as you’ll be leaving the project at the top of your game. I’ve always wanted kids . . . well, you know that, and now seems like the right time to be thinking about it.’

Hermione was suddenly uncomfortable again and wanted to let go of Ron’s hand but she didn’t dare in case he turned on her.

‘Did you know Ginny’s pregnant?’ Ron asked, sounding casual when they reached the door of the Ministry and were about to part.

Hermione stared at him in surprise. ‘No! Then again, I haven’t spoken to her for a couple of weeks. We’ve both been busy. When did she find out? When’s it due?’

Ron shrugged. Slightly accusingly he told her, ‘Harry told me about it yesterday. I would have told you last night but you didn’t get home until late and I was so tired that it completely slipped my mind. I think he said she’s about ten weeks. The Healer confirmed it a couple of days ago, apparently. Harry’s stoked about it, as you can imagine.’

‘I’m sure they both are, although that’s going to put an end to Ginny’s career, for a while, at least,’ Hermione pointed out.

‘Harry told me that he’d suggested she might want to give up the Quidditch and do something a little less dangerous.’ Ron grinned wickedly. ‘Ginny told him to go and boil his head. She said she’s perfectly capable of playing until she’s at least seven months pregnant so he can forget all about her sitting at home knitting baby booties like the obedient little wife. She did agree to talk it over with the team manager, though, to make sure that it’s safe for her to continue.’

Hermione chuckled. ‘Knowing Ginny she’ll still be playing when the baby’s due. It wouldn’t surprise me if it ends up being born on the Quidditch pitch.’

Ron shook his head. ‘Harry won’t let that happen. Nor will my mum. You know what she’s like. As soon as Ginny starts showing she’ll be nagging her to keep her feet firmly on the ground. There’s going to be a few fireworks there, I reckon.’

A small shudder ran through Hermione as for a moment she imagined herself pregnant and being subjected to the tender mercies of Ron’s family. Molly Weasley was a lovely and caring woman but she could also be domineering and interfering and would no doubt make Hermione’s life a misery, especially if she tried to keep working rather than playing the homemaker. Even Ginny was no match for her mother, so Hermione stood no chance.

She leant in to kiss Ron on the cheek. ‘I’ve got to go. Thanks for lunch. It was nice to spend some time together for a change.’

‘Maybe you should try coming home earlier, then we could spend a bit more time together,’ Ron suggested. He tried to make it sound like a lighthearted joke but wasn’t sure he had succeeded.

Hermione gave a small frown but forced herself to smile. ‘I think I will be having some early nights this week. It’s been pretty intense for the last few months but now we’re making some real progress I think it’s time for me to recharge my batteries a bit before what will hopefully be the final push.’

Ron looked pleased. ‘Good. Maybe we’ll even get to share a meal or two together.’

‘Don’t push it,’ Hermione said, although it was clear she was joking. ‘Leaving the lab before ten is going to be enough of a challenge, don’t try to tie me down to meal deadlines.’

Ron wrapped his arms around Hermione, hugging her tightly.

‘It’ll just be good to spend some time with you for a change.’

A flash of guilt raced through Hermione, making her pull away from Ron. She couldn’t tell him that the real reason she was going to be going home early, the only reason, was that she was trying to avoid being alone with Severus.

She also needed time alone to finally do the thinking she had been putting off for so long. It really was time to consider her options, to decide which of the futures already offered to her or another future as yet unconsidered would be her way ahead. She couldn’t do that with Ron around, in the same way that she couldn’t do it with Severus there. But although she needed to sort out her life there was no reason to upset Ron when he was trying so hard, so she relented a little.

‘I know I won’t be home for dinner tonight as I’ve got stuff to sort out and I’m not sure how long the meeting with Kingsley’s going to take, but I’ll definitely be back in time tomorrow.’

Ron beamed. ‘In honour of this rare occurrence, I will cook us a meal. Something spicy, I think.’ He winked at her.

‘That sounds great,’ Hermione said, trying to force herself to feel a bit more excited at the prospect than she actually was. ‘But now I really do have to go. I’ll see you tonight.’


	6. Five

Hermione switched on the lights in the laboratory and made her way to her office. Her stomach was doing that familiar swirly thing that it had been doing almost constantly since Severus had given her his ultimatum. This morning she would have to give him an answer and she still had no idea what she was going to say to him. Whatever he thought, five days really wasn’t enough time for her to make a decision that was going to affect the rest of her life.

She had tried to think sensibly about the future but she was still having difficulty putting anything before her work on the virus. It was, and would remain until the cure had been confirmed, the most important thing in her life, and spending the week leaving the office early in order to avoid another confrontation with Severus had done nothing but make her worry that her control of the team was slipping as she wasn’t there to obsess over every little thing that happened.

Despite she and Ron spending more time together than they had done for many months it hadn’t been as helpful in making her decision as she had hoped it might. Although much happier since his decision to work for George, and clearly pleased that Hermione was spending some time with him outside of the bedroom, things still grated between them, especially when he kept trying to bring up the subject of children, the one thing that had always kept Hermione working late. Even the potential move to Hogsmeade had lost her interest and it was all she could do not to shout at him to shut up every time he started talking about it.

Sunday lunch at the Burrow had been a painful experience, as Hermione grimaced her way through Molly’s well-meaning but ultimately frustrating questions about Ron’s new job and their future prospects, and hearing Ron postulate for the millionth time about how wonderful their life would be when they could finally settle down and begin their family.

As expected, everyone seemed to agree with Ron and it had left Hermione feeling distinctly depressed, so much so that she’d had the urge to run screaming from the house just to get away from it all. She hadn’t, of course. Instead, she had spent hours trapped with the Weasley women talking about Ginny’s pregnancy and Angelina’s wedding plans and watching with a shiver of disgust as Audrey fed and changed her baby daughter, Lucy.

Back at home, things were no better. Leaving the office early hadn’t signalled a resumption of their sex life or even increased their intimacy that much. Although Ron talked to her now, incessantly and almost always about what he was going to do now he was leaving the Ministry, the frigidity between them hadn’t really thawed. They still fell into bed with little more than a brief hug and a kiss goodnight, and Hermione couldn’t help wondering how Ron expected her to get pregnant when he wasn’t actually interested in having sex with her. Not that she was all that interested in having sex with him.

Even in the early days of their marriage the sex hadn’t been much to write home about, but Hermione, being so much more naïve then, hadn’t realised that sex could be exciting and so much more pleasurable than she was experiencing with Ron. It was hard to summon up the enthusiasm for something that was probably going to end up leaving her unfulfilled and she wasn’t yet ready to take things into her own hands to try to spice up their love life. It all seemed like so much hard work that she really didn’t have the energy for when her time could be better spent working on the virus cure.  

That brought her back to Severus. Unfortunately, Hermione did want to have sex with him. In fact, if she was honest, she had really missed the illicit stolen moments they used to share — although not enough to prove him right and revert back to staying at the office late, not until she had made her decision, anyway. But she did miss the glorious enjoyment that came from a damn good fuck, initiated because it was wanted rather than because it was something that it was felt should happen by default because it was a part of marriage.

But although the sex with Severus was good — all right, it was great — was it really enough to consider giving up the stable life she currently had for a punt on something distinctly unstable and unknown? What guarantee would there be that her life would be any better with Severus, especially if he expected her to decamp back to the Muggle world and the dreary house at Spinner’s End with him?

Hermione was as certain as she could be that choosing Severus would enable her to achieve even more in her career than her current lofty status, but at what cost? Would he try to push her too far and would she crack under the pressure? More to the point, would their relationship be able to stand the arguments that would surely ensue from the stress that would thus be generated? They already argued enough and they weren’t yet a real couple or pursuing career dreams together. Additionally, Hermione was annoyed that Severus was effectively blackmailing her into choosing him — his comment ~~s~~ about leaving the project if she didn’t make the choice he wanted was almost enough in itself to make her turn him down, even though she knew her team and the others around the world would probably never forgive her if he did leave.

Finally, Hermione considered a third option, one in which she dumped both Ron and Severus and continued with her career at her own pace, doing whatever she wanted without having to worry about men who wanted to control her. At the moment this seemed to her like the most agreeable option, but she was aware that this was only because she was feeling pressurised by both her husband and her lover and knew that yet again she couldn’t really make a decision on something so final until she knew what options were available to her once the current project finished.

Sighing, she picked up the paper cup containing her coffee and took a sip. She shuddered as the strong-tasting liquid slid down her throat, making her cough. Hermione had added a double espresso to her usual latte this morning, feeling the need for the extra caffeine hit as she was already jittery about the upcoming confrontation with Severus, and having had yet another bad night’s sleep she needed to make sure her brain was firing on all cylinders. She was suddenly realising that this might have been a mistake and she would probably end up being hyperactive, which wasn’t going to help for sleep later, but it was too late now. There was likely only another couple of minutes before Severus arrived. She was sure that he would arrive early, wanting to talk to her before the others made it into work.

Fighting the almost overwhelming urge to flee, Hermione forced herself to stay seated at her desk and open the folder with the most recent work updates. She couldn’t concentrate, couldn’t read the words, but she had to try. She had to stay where she was and face Severus, however hard it was to do so.

As the clock on the wall chimed out the hour, Hermione felt her stomach lurch and her hands clenched. She noticed they were clammy. Her heart was racing so she tried to implement a slow breathing technique designed to stop her from hyperventilating. That coffee really had been a mistake.

Her breathing was cut off abruptly with a sharp intake as she realised Severus was there, coming towards her through the office door. She let out the breath quickly before she choked and tried to look serene and carefree although she knew she wasn’t succeeding.

‘Good morning, Hermione.’

Severus’ voice was calm and warm but Hermione was certain that it was as much of an act as her trying to appear unconcerned was.

‘Hello, Severus.’

He closed the door and Hermione felt her heart make the same clunking noise that the door made. She had the urge to throw herself at him, wanting to feel his lips on hers and his arms around her holding her tight, but that wasn’t going to happen. Hurriedly she moved her hands under the desk to stop the show of nervousness as she began to wring them, unable to stop moving thanks to the boost of caffeine.

‘Are you ready to talk now?’ Severus asked, immediately moving onto the subject Hermione was dreading.

She stared at him for several seconds, a whole raft of emotions running through her, so many that she couldn’t disentangle them. There was lust, the first emotion that had flared as soon as she saw him. There was terror at the thought of having to finally talk properly, and sadness that things were going to change, that she was going to say things that Severus wouldn’t like. There was anger, too, that he was forcing her into this situation in the first place when it was the last thing she wanted.

‘I don’t really have much choice, do I? Not after you gave me that ultimatum last week,’ she replied, a little surprised at how bitter her voice sounded.

Severus stared at her carefully, having picked up on the tone.

‘You know we can’t continue as we are, Hermione,’ he told her, trying to sound reasonable. ‘It’s not just a quick fling anymore, at least it’s not for me . . . and I don’t believe it is for you either. We make a great couple — we’re good for each other, but if we don’t seize the moment and take our relationship to the next level it’s going to deteriorate. It will make working together difficult, if not downright impossible, and that will affect the rest of the team even if we don’t want it to.’

‘I don’t see why,’ Hermione lied. ‘We’re still working on the project exactly the same as we’ve always been. Why can’t we just concentrate on that for the time being? We’ve no idea what’s going to happen after the project finishes so it’s pretty difficult to make decisions on what to do.’

‘You don’t need to know what’s going to happen in the future,’ Severus retorted. ‘This decision is about us, about you leaving your husband and coming to live with me; about us being a couple openly and without needing to creep around every morning and night. I just need you to say yes.’

Hermione felt her heart thump into her stomach at the thought of giving Severus an answer but she knew she had no choice.

‘I’m sorry, Severus, but the time you’ve given me isn’t enough for me to make a decision this important.’ She saw his look turn to anger and added, ‘Ron’s going through changes, too. He’s leaving the Ministry to go and work with George. Eventually he’ll be running a new shop in Hogsmeade, where Zonko’s used to be.

‘Obviously that’s going to affect things between us and I need to work out what the best course of action for the future is. But I really can’t do that until I have some idea of where I’m going when this project ends . . . and I can’t even consider that while I’m still working on the virus. I know it’s not what you want to hear but it’s the only answer I can give at the moment.’

‘You’re saying you don’t want to be with me. You’re choosing Weasley,’ Severus stated, his voice husky.

Hermione shook her head. ‘That’s not what I’m saying at all. I’m just saying that I’m not willing to make a decision this important at such short notice. I know you think it’s clear-cut. For you it is. But I have so many things to consider and I need the time to make sure that I make the right choice.

‘You trying to steamroller me into choosing you isn’t any better than Ron trying to force me into having kids. If I’m honest, at the moment part of me wants to tell you both to sod off and leave me alone so I can concentrate on the project.’ She sighed, then continued, ‘I don’t really mean that either, not deep down, but at the moment it’s the most dominant feeling that comes to mind with you both trying to force me into decisions that I’m not yet ready to make. I’m sorry.’

‘You know we can’t continue as we have been,’ Severus warned.

Hermione shrugged. ‘I don’t know what you want me to say, Severus. I’ve told you how I feel and if you can’t understand that then I’m not sure where we go from here.’

‘I told you last week what I would do,’ he warned.

Hermione stared at him, trying to fight down the panic. It was tempered with anger that he was still trying to force her into a decision she didn’t want to make.

‘I don’t want you to leave the project because of this, Severus. It’s not fair to everyone else if you go. I don’t know if you understand what effect you have on the teams. You boost everyone’s morale. Everyone’s willing to work harder and smarter just because you’re part of the team. I don’t want to lose that, especially when we’re so close to winning.’

Severus considered her words, his lips pinched, the scowl she remembered so well appearing on his face.

‘I don’t want to let everyone down but I would do if I stayed,’ he told her honestly. ‘I can’t be near you if I can’t touch you, and I’m not willing to be a bit on the side, skulking around hoping not to get caught out any longer. As you say, the project is progressing nicely so it’s a good time for me to bow out and leave you all to it.’

‘Severus, please reconsider,’ Hermione pleaded, a sudden cold feeling creeping through her at his words. ‘The project needs you. You’ve no idea how upset everyone will be if you go.’

She almost said _I need you_ but managed to stop herself, knowing that it would only reopen the argument.

‘It would be best for everyone if I left,’ he averred.

Hermione shook her head. ‘No, it wouldn’t. It wouldn’t be best for anyone and now really isn’t the time to quit. You might think it would be best for you but I know that beneath that harsh, sarcastic exterior you exude there’s actually some decency there, and eventually you would regret walking out on the project.’

Severus sighed loudly. ‘All right, I won’t quit. But I won’t be coming to the laboratory either.’ Hermione went to reply but before she could speak he added, ‘I will come here one day a week. Wednesday would seem to be the opportune day as it’s the day we have our team catch-up meeting. The rest of the time I will work at Spinner’s End. But I do not expect to be disturbed there unless it’s something life-threatening.’

When Hermione continued to stare at him, looking unhappy, he shrugged and told her, ‘It’s the best I can offer, Hermione. Take it or leave it.’

‘I really wish you would reconsider,’ Hermione said, her voice as unhappy as her expression.

‘I wish you’d leave your husband, but that’s not happening either, is it?’ Severus batted back coldly.

Hermione picked up her now almost cold coffee and took a sip. She grimaced and put it back down on the desk.

‘I suppose I have no choice but to accept then, although it’s not going to make things any easier, especially if we can’t contact you.’

‘I’ll be here once a week,’ Severus pointed out.

Hermione stared at him for several long seconds.

‘All right. If that’s what you think you have to do then I accept . . . but I’m not happy about it.’

Severus shrugged again. ‘You know what will make me change my mind.’ Hermione’s eyes narrowed. He continued, ‘I’m going to leave now. I’ll come back on Wednesday. It’ll give you a chance to explain the new arrangements to everyone.’

‘You’re not going to stay and tell them yourself?’ Hermione asked, sounding surprised.

‘No. You’re the head of the project, you can tell them.’

‘Coward. What’s the matter, worried that you’ll change your mind when you see how upset they are by your news?’ Hermione said, her anger rising.

‘ _Don’t_ call me a coward,’ Severus replied coldly. ‘It’s not me who’s forced this decision so I don’t see why it should be up to me to tell the team.’

With that he opened the office door and left, leaving Hermione staring after him, trying to decide whether she wanted to kill him or run and get him back so she could kiss him. In the end she did neither but instead let him go and pulled the folder towards her to read as she waited for her team to arrive, not wanting to give them the news she had to impart.

At least Severus hadn’t left the project completely. They would still get to see him once a week and have the benefit of his experience so there was no reason that things would significantly deteriorate.

For the first time ever Hermione wished that the project was completed, but not because of the lives it would save.

 

 

* * *

 

 

Hermione slammed the door as she entered the laboratory, then sighed wearily. She was tired and grumpy and if she was being honest, she would rather be anywhere than here this morning. It had now been over two weeks since Severus had given her his ultimatum and left, and while there hadn’t been any major problems in the wake of his leaving she knew the team blamed her for his absence even though they must have had no idea why he had chosen to isolate himself once more.

It didn’t help that when he had turned up for the Wednesday meeting the previous week he had been as friendly as anything with everyone except for her. With Hermione, he had been civil but distant and had made no attempt to talk to her alone or even at all, confining his movements to the main team area where Hermione heard them all laughing and joking, seemingly louder than usual, while she had sat at her desk alone in her office trying desperately to calm herself and prepare for the meeting ahead.

Once the meeting finished her team all left the laboratory, taking Severus with them to a local pub for a lunch date to which she apparently had not been invited. Once the team returned without Severus, all of them now belligerent and accusing, the afternoon had been extremely uncomfortable and only increased Hermione’s feeling of exclusion.

No one said anything to her about it directly but Hermione had felt their anger. She hadn’t known what she could say that would improve the situation, particularly when she had no idea what Severus had told them. 

She knew her mood, too, had been affected by Severus’ leaving. How could it not when she was desperately missing both him and the time they used to spend alone together and was now also fighting against the hostility of her team? This hadn’t helped to make the atmosphere any more pleasant and Hermione had ended up scheduling as many meetings outside of the laboratory as she thought she could get away with in an attempt to stop the bad feeling escalating.

Things hadn’t improved on the home front either, her less than positive work experience leaving her drained and fretful by the time she got home in the evening. Ron, not knowing what was going on, wasn’t able to provide much in the way of support although he had cooked her a meal every night without complaining, for which Hermione felt grateful.

Annoyed with Severus for what he had caused to happen, and knowing that for the time being there was nothing she could do to improve the work situation, Hermione had decided to focus on her life outside of work; the uncomfortable atmosphere at the laboratory had given her a jolting reminder of how easily things could go wrong and leave her as unhappy in her job as Ron was in his. Perhaps Ron was right and she should take a break once the project was finished. Maybe a move to Hogsmeade with babies and the joke shop would be good for her after all. 

But for that to happen she needed to significantly increase the standing of her relationship with her husband, and that meant a resumption of their sex life and more intimacy than they had shared for several years. The problem was that Hermione had grown used to the rough and ready handling by Severus during their fumbles in the office, knowing that even in bed his actions were never dull or repetitive. Ron was a completely different kettle of fish; his style of lovemaking just didn’t do anything for her any longer.

Hermione tried to tackle this by becoming more proactive in their lovemaking, a dominant side that she hadn’t previously known she had emerging to take control. At first Ron seemed quite excited by the prospect but it hadn’t taken Hermione long to realise that for him this was something that he would tolerate only occasionally, and then only when he was in the mood, rather than it becoming a regular part of their lovemaking.

Most of the time he was quite content to end the evening with nothing more than the usual hug and kiss. Although sometimes Hermione was able to elicit a brief bout of foreplay, it did nothing to increase her arousal and was followed by the missionary position, generally consisting of a few rapid thrusts and a loud groan that signalled Ron’s satisfaction and her disappointment.

It was in this melee of broken feelings that Severus would be joining her and the team for their next weekly meeting and Hermione wasn’t at all sure she was going to survive the experience. She was already dreading a repeat of the previous week, but at the same time she knew there was nothing she could do to improve the situation.

There was only one thing that would bring Severus back to the office on a regular basis and at the moment it was something that Hermione couldn’t even consider agreeing to.

 

 

* * *

 

 

By the time Severus arrived for the meeting Hermione’s mood was toxic, and she decided she needed to face him down and make him understand the problems he was causing by being so bloody selfish. One way or another she would make him feel guilty for what he had done, would make him see that he had to return to working in the office regularly. 

As soon as he arrived in the laboratory Hermione ordered him to come into her office so she could talk to him in private. Severus blatantly ignored her command, instead turning to talk to the rest of the team in his usual friendly manner. Humiliated in a way she had never felt before, Hermione had no choice but to back down; she retreated to her office, crestfallen, knowing that she had now totally lost control of her team thanks to Severus’ shoddy behaviour.

It took her fifteen minutes to calm down enough to join the others for the weekly meeting, and she made it clear throughout that she was not in the mood for anything but hard facts. Reports about their work and that of any of the other teams were welcome, anything else was not.

At the end of the meeting Hermione told Severus icily that she wanted to see him in her office immediately. For a few seconds it looked like he was going to refuse and Hermione knew if he did that she would have no choice but to dismiss him or completely lose face, but fortunately he eventually assented with a slight nod of his head although the expression on his face made it quite clear that he was attending under duress.

Hermione knew the rest of the team were talking about them as they made their way into her office but she didn’t care. She was furious with Severus and his behaviour towards her and she had every intention of letting him know it.

‘Why didn’t you come in here like I asked you to before the meeting?’ she growled, unable to keep her tone even.

Severus shrugged uncaringly. ‘From your expression it was clear that you weren’t going to be saying anything I wanted to hear, so there was no point in either of us wasting our time.’

‘You completely undermined me by doing that,’ Hermione pointed out. ‘I am still your boss while you remain a member of this team, however little you participate and whether you like it or not. If I tell you I want to see you in my office you come here straight away, you don’t ignore me, do you understand? You came close to being dismissed today because of your attitude.’

‘I don’t know why you wanted to see me, anyway. We haven’t got anything to say to each other that can’t be said in front of the whole team, have we? You haven’t changed your mind. Have you considered that it might be _your_ attitude that’s causing the problem, not mine? I have no problem with everyone else. They all love me.’

‘And hate me,’ Hermione retorted angrily. ‘I don’t know what you’ve told them, Severus, but they’ve lost all respect for me and it’s only been since your ultimatum. It’s not fair what you’re doing to me. You’re ruining my career because you’re not getting your own way.’

‘I am doing nothing of the sort. It’s not my fault that the team don’t see you as anything other than their boss, and not a very good one at the moment, either. I haven’t said anything to them, they’ve picked up on the tension all on their own,’ Severus said, far more in control than Hermione.

She didn’t believe him. ‘I’ve seen you, chatting away to them all, having a laugh and a joke — at my expense, no doubt.’

‘They’re my work colleagues. How am I supposed to react?’

‘But you went to the pub with them and I wasn’t invited. When they came back I could feel the animosity so I don’t believe you didn’t say anything,’ Hermione insisted angrily.

Severus shook his head and sighed. ‘You’re being paranoid, Hermione. I’m not doing or saying anything to the team, but they are a bit wary of you. You’re unstable at the moment and it’s making you extremely difficult to be around. That’s why they didn’t invite you to the pub — because they didn’t know if the bright and breezy Hermione or the taciturn and argumentative Hermione would show up. You need to sort yourself out before you lose them all.’

‘You need to come back to work,’ Hermione stated. ‘If you came back to the office everything would be all right again.’

Severus stared at her ruefully. ‘You know that’s not true. It would just make everything worse. At least we only have to go through this once a week.’

‘But if you were back here their attitude would change, I know it would,’ Hermione pleaded.

Severus’ voice hardened slightly. ‘Are you saying that you’re ready to leave Weasley and come and live with me, then?’

Hermione stared at him unhappily for several long seconds before she slowly shook her head. ‘No. I’ve told you before I can’t make that decision at the moment, not without some proper time to consider.’

‘You’ve had another two weeks,’ Severus pointed out. ‘How long does it take to realise that you don’t love your husband, don’t want his dreams of joke shops and children? How long until you realise you’re letting the best thing in your life slip away because of your stubbornness?’

‘My stubbornness! I’m not the one who had a hissy fit and refused to come into work because his co-worker is trying to act like an adult and make a proper considered decision rather than rush away on a flight of fantasy just because you’re a good fuck. Don’t talk to me about stubborn.’

‘Are you going to leave Weasley?’ Severus’ tone was glacial now.

‘No! Are you going to come back to work?’ Hermione’s tone was equally icy.

‘Of course not. Nothing’s changed, so my decision stands. It’s your own fault if this all crashes and burns, Hermione. You need to stop worrying about what your team think of you and start making decisions about your life. I don’t know why you won’t just admit that I’m right. You know I am, so why keep pretending?’

‘We’ve been over this so many times,’ Hermione said in frustration. ‘I can’t make a decision like that while I’m working on this virus. But we’re never going to get a vaccine finished if you don’t come back — if you keep creating discord within the team.’

‘I’m not the one creating discord, and I’m not staying here to have the same old argument again and again. Don’t bother inviting me in for a little chat anymore . . . unless it’s to tell me you’ve changed your mind. I’ve got nothing further to say to you that can’t be said out there with the rest of the team,’ Severus told her.

Hermione stared at him with dismay.

Severus’ jaw was set firm, his lips a thin line of displeasure. ‘I’ll see you for the meeting next week, Hermione.’

Feeling as if she wanted to cry, Hermione watched him leave the office, closing the door just a little too loudly as he went.    

 

 

* * *

 

 

Hermione ignored the raised eyebrows from her team that greeted her when she finally felt calm enough to leave her office. Determined to keep her pride intact, even knowing they had heard the sound of the latest argument between her and Severus, if not the actual words, she smiled at them as she headed for the door, deciding that a long walk would help to both improve her mood and keep her away from the laboratory for a while.

Once the door closed there was a flurry of conversation from the team.

‘Do you think there’s a big problem between Hermione and Severus?’ Charlotte asked anxiously. ‘They seem to do nothing but argue these days. What if he leaves completely? He’s already stopped coming to the office apart from the weekly meetings.’

Jack chuckled and shook his head, not seeming worried. ‘They’ve always argued, Charlotte. When we were at Hogwarts he was always having a go at her. The only difference these days is that this time Hermione’s the one in charge and I suspect that doesn’t sit too well with Severus after what he put her through at school.

‘He was always pretty critical of her then and he’s probably no different now, but now she can argue back with him without getting into trouble for it. Look at the way he acted today, refusing to go to her office when she wanted to speak to him before the meeting and staring her down afterwards. I reckon it’s all just a power play because he’s having trouble getting used to Hermione being the boss.

‘I wouldn’t worry about it too much, though. Hermione knows we need him for the project so she’s not going to do anything to drive him away completely. She knows what a snarky bastard he can be when he wants to be and no doubt he’s still a bit twitchy about coming out of retirement, which probably doesn’t help. It’s all still going pretty well even with him not coming into the office so much, so unless that changes she probably won’t do anything to bring him back as they’re probably better off apart.’

‘I dunno, I thought it might be something a bit more personal than that,’ Lisa said. ‘Hermione seems really unhappy recently. She always looks like she’s on the verge of tears and I’m a bit worried about talking to her in case she loses it completely.’

‘What, do you think they’re having an affair or something?’ Osbert asked with a grin. He chuckled. ‘Perhaps they’re arguing about who goes on top.’

Lisa wrinkled her nose in disgust at his comment. ‘I don’t think that’s likely, but I do think their arguments are about more than just work. I heard him talking about her husband holding her back in her career a little while ago. It’s like he’s some sort of Svengali figure, trying to control her life. I know that started an argument because she said she didn’t want to talk about it and stormed out of the laboratory.’

‘I wouldn’t take that too seriously,’ Jack retorted. ‘Severus never liked Ron when they were at school either, or her other friend, Harry. I don’t know if it was because they were Gryffindors or what, but he was always picking on the three of them and their mate Neville; I don’t suppose he’s changed his views much, especially as he always thought Ron was an idiot. As that’s the case you can see why he would think he was holding her back.’

‘Actually, I think Hermione’s going through a tough time at home at the moment,’ Catherine said quietly. ‘I was talking to Marcy up in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement the other day and she told me that Ron’s leaving the Auror office.’

‘Really?’ Lisa looked interested. ‘Did she say why?’

‘Apparently he’s just had enough — really fed up with it, she said,’ Catherine confided. ‘She said he’s going to work with his brother — you know, the one that runs Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes. He’s going to run their new shop in Hogsmeade.’

‘Hogsmeade? Hermione’s not going to be happy about moving there, surely?’ Stephen said, sounding horrified. ‘It’s bloody miles away from anywhere.’

‘It won’t stop her coming into work or anything, though,’ Catherine pointed out. ‘It’s still only a Floo ride away.’

‘Yeah, but I bet the stress from that isn’t helping,’ Lisa cautioned, sounding sympathetic. ‘It’s quite an upheaval moving jobs and home, especially when we’re this close to finishing the project.’

‘And he’s trying to get her to have a baby, too,’ Catherine added. ‘I don’t think she’s very happy about that either from what I can gather.’

‘How do you know that?’ Lisa asked.

Catherine shrugged. ‘Marcy again. Ron’s been telling everyone that this move is going to be a new start for him and Hermione — that they’re going to be settling down and having kids, going to run the joke shop together. From what she said it sounds like they might have been having a few problems with their relationship, which he’s hoping this move will sort out.’

‘Well, you can see why Hermione might be unhappy about that,’ Stephen said.

‘And why Severus might be unhappy, too,’ Jack added. ‘You know he’s always pushing her to excel in her career, and that would make sense with what you said, Lisa — he probably thinks she’s wasting her life by jacking it in and going and having a family with Ron, which is bound to cause arguments.’ 

‘You don’t think she’s going to leave the project, do you?’ Charlotte asked anxiously.

‘Definitely not,’ Stephen assured her. ‘This project is the most important thing in Hermione’s life right now. There’s no way she’ll leave it until it’s successfully completed.’ He thought for a moment then added, ‘That might add some stress, though, if Ron’s trying to get her to leave because of his new job and to have a baby.’

Jack snorted. ‘He’s got no chance. There is no way Hermione will leave this project, especially to have a kid — and there’s no way on earth she’d give it all up to work in a bloody joke shop. She might leave Ron, though, if he gives her enough grief about it.’

‘Do you think that’s likely?’ Lisa asked.

Jack shrugged. ‘Who knows? I reckon we’re probably all reading too much into it. She and Ron are probably perfectly happy and planning for a baby once the project finishes. I mean, she doesn’t have to give up her career just ‘cos she’s got a kid, and her working at the joke shop is probably just wishful thinking on Ron’s part.’

‘I suppose we should try to support her as much as possible,’ Lisa said.

‘We need to do our jobs and get on with sorting out this virus,’ Stephen retorted. ‘That’s the best way to help Hermione . . . and Severus. Once the virus is contained he can disappear back to the Muggle world and the obscurity he so clearly craves. That’s probably what some of the arguing is about as well. Let’s face it, we all knew he wasn’t going to be all that eager to come and help, so Hermione achieved something major by getting him on the team in the first place, and we shouldn’t forget that.’ 

‘We could cut Hermione a bit of slack, though,’ Lisa said. ‘We were pretty nasty to her last week when we all went out to the pub with Severus and didn’t invite her along. I know she never said anything but I got the impression she was really hurt by that.’

‘She probably wouldn’t have come anyway. You know what she’s like, busy in meetings and stuff,’ Osbert retorted, trying to assuage his own guilt a little.

‘We still should have asked her, though,’ Lisa insisted.

Catherine nodded her agreement. She frowned, looking thoughtful. ‘We all automatically took Severus’ side that day, because he was obviously angry with her, wasn’t talking to her. We just assumed that it was her fault. But if he’s being this Svengali-like figure like Lisa said, and she’s having all this upheaval at home, it’s not surprising that they argued, and it’s as much Severus’ fault as it is Hermione’s.’

‘I still think it will all blow over,’ Stephen said. ‘You wait and see: give it another couple of weeks and it will all have sorted itself out.


	7. Six

Now they were almost two months into the new working arrangement everyone had become used to Severus only being available once a week, and whilst they still didn’t like it the comments and dark looks Hermione’s team had been sending her way stopped as they became inured to the new routine.

After the embarrassment of the argument with Severus on that second week, her team seemed to come round to finally understanding that it wasn’t completely Hermione’s fault that their brilliant potion-maker wasn’t on hand at the drop of a hat but was still available at relatively short notice. Their re-inclusion of her into their ‘gang’ gave Hermione’s confidence enough of a boost that she was able to reassume the mantle of leader without worrying whether she was up to the task — an attitude perfect enough to ensure she was.

She was once again early into the laboratory and late home at night, her hand firmly back on the tiller, and she and Severus interacted only during the weekly meetings or when she joined her colleagues in the laboratory afterwards for some less work-related conversation. There were never any private discussions in her office and although relations between the two of them were coolly cordial and strictly professional, there were no arguments either.

The trials the teams had been conducting around the world continued to pay huge dividends, the virus finally treatable, if not yet completely beaten — in laboratory conditions, at least. Everything was going so well that extended trials were due to start any day, with Severus working at Spinner’s End on several slightly revised potions based on information gathered by the various teams during the trials.

Now that everything had settled, Hermione actually found herself wondering whether she should have just arranged this current working pattern of Severus’ with him in the first place. Maybe if she had gone to him with the request that he attend only a weekly meeting, he might have been more amenable to joining and she wouldn’t have had to undergo the trial — as she now thought of the twenty-four hours she had spent under his control. Perhaps Severus would have signed up straight away, knowing that his precious obscurity wasn’t going to be compromised by helping; and, more importantly, she wouldn’t still be in this miserable position.        

Although several weeks had passed, Hermione was no happier than she had been before Severus’ self-imposed exile. The truth was that she and Ron still weren’t clicking as a couple, and despite his continued insistence that the move to Hogsmeade and starting a family was the perfect next step for their relationship he was still showing no sign of actually wanting to increase their sexual activity or attempting to make their relationship closer. If anything, recent weeks had seen a decline back to pre-Severus conditions, with Ron citing his new job and what Hermione knew was a definite push-back against her burgeoning dominance in the bedroom as the reasons.

Hermione had no interest at all in having extended discussions about the interminable stock list of Weasleys’ Wizarding Wheezes, and in particular, what should take prominence in the new Hogsmeade store. Nor was she interested in discussions on the theme of whether it would be better for them to wait a few months after moving to think about having a baby, in order to give them a chance to settle in, especially if she was going to help in the shop, or whether a baby straight away would set the tone for their tenancy. Ron vacillated between the two possibilities almost daily, drawing up lists of pros and cons that Hermione was sure changed every time she actually bothered to listen to him.

It was an extremely frustrating time and was enough to send her back to her long hours in the laboratory rather than having to put up with her husband and his plans which, if Hermione was absolutely honest, were of no interest to her whatsoever, whichever way he tried to sell it.

But the real problem, that Hermione was trying valiantly not to admit, was that she missed Severus desperately and however hard she tried not to let it take over, it was beginning to subsume everything else. It wasn’t just the sex, either, despite the fact Hermione would have given almost anything for Severus to grab her and fuck her in the way he always used to before the split. No, she missed the intelligent conversations they used to have regularly and, although she would admit it even less, his light but firm hand guiding her and pushing her to achieve remarkable things within her career. 

Even at his best, Ron could only manage doubt and uncertainty. The only thing he was firm on was that Hermione should give up her work to do whatever he decided for her, and Hermione knew that wasn’t the way she wanted to live, not even if she ended up burnt out from this current project.

Perhaps Severus wasn’t going to be the answer, not in the long term, but right now she would choose him over Ronald in every way, and that had to be enough — at least she hoped it would be enough.

 

 

* * *

 

 

When Severus arrived at the laboratory Hermione called him to her office, making clear that she didn’t expect him to refuse her request. Surprised at being summoned after their previous arguments, and sensing a subtle firmness in her tone that made him realise she was serious and that insubordination might lead to the previously mentioned dismissal despite his hallowed status within the team, he followed her, interested to hear what she had to say.

The door had been closed for less than two seconds before Hermione launched herself at him, pushing Severus towards the desk as her lips found his, forcing him into a kiss that was both ferocious and full of passion. Surprised at the forceful assault, Severus allowed himself to be manoeuvred, his heart racing as he realised Hermione was trying to unbutton his trousers. A moment of hope flared inside him, but he forced himself to calm down and be rational — one of them certainly had to be.

‘Hermione, what are you doing?’ he asked as the current kiss finished.

He grabbed the top of her arms, effectively stopping her in her tracks.

‘I need you, Severus. I want you so much. I need you to fuck me right here, right now.’

‘Everyone’s just outside the door,’ he reminded her.

‘I don’t care. I don’t care if everyone hears us. I want you to fuck me. You’re not leaving this office until you do.’

Severus surveyed her with an amused look. There was that trace of desperation about her again that always aroused him without fail. He was hopeful this meant a breakthrough, that Hermione had finally made her decision, and in his favour, too, but even just the sex would be acceptable right now. It had been far too long since they had last made love and he was more than ready. Since leaving Hogwarts Severus had never gone this long without hooking up with someone, but since he had got together with Hermione he hadn’t felt the urge to look elsewhere, certain that it would only be a matter of time before she finally saw sense. Now, with any luck, it had happened. 

‘May I suggest a silencing charm,’ he said, with a wave of his wand to provide said charm.

‘I really don’t care as long as you fuck me hard,’ Hermione admitted, her hands once again back on his trousers, pulling his erection free of his clothes.

With a wolfish grin Severus took control, turning and pushing Hermione onto the desk, his hands sliding up under her skirt to find the unwanted knickers, their mouths locked as she lifted her bottom, assisting him with their removal.

‘Gods, I’ve missed you so much,’ she whimpered as his fingers pushed inside her, making sure she was ready for him before his cock followed.

Severus’ response was a hiss as their bodies joined, Hermione’s tight walls gripping his shaft firmly, squeezing and pulsing, already pulling him towards climax.

‘You feel so good,’ he told her.

Hermione smiled at him, wrapping her arms around his neck as she moved against him every bit as forcefully as he was doing with her.

‘I love you so much,’ she whispered. ‘Oh, gods, Severus, I love you!’

Then neither of them could talk anymore. Severus grunted loudly as he exploded, Hermione crying out as her own orgasm caught light from his, with a high wail.

Both panting, they finally ceased moving and stared at each other with undisguised lust.

‘Does this mean you’re finally ready to leave Weasley?’ Severus asked once he was able to talk.

Hermione climbed from the desk and retrieved her knickers, then stared at him for several long seconds before answering.

‘Yes! I love you, Severus . . . and I need you.’

Severus grabbed her once more, pulling her into an ardent kiss.

‘Finally, she sees sense,’ he said, sounding smug.

‘I need to find the right time to tell Ron, though,’ Hermione told him.

‘You mean he doesn’t already know about us?’ Severus sounded surprised and not particularly happy.

‘I’ve only just worked it out for myself,’ Hermione said. ‘Cut me some slack, please. I’m talking about giving up my entire life here, about ruining all Ron’s hopes and dreams for the future. I love you and I really do want to be with you — here or in the Muggle world, wherever you want to take me — but I need some time to sort things out and I need you to support me.’

Severus’ face hardened. ‘I am not going to carry on being your bit on the side until you decide the time is right to tell your husband it’s over. Either you want to be with me or you don’t, Hermione, it’s that simple — it’s always been that simple. If you’re serious about leaving Weasley then you’ll always have my full support, surely you know that? But you can’t let this ride — I won’t let you because it’s not fair on any of us. I’ll give you another month to tell him it’s over, otherwise that will be it for us, too. One month, or I’ll leave the project completely and you’ll never see me again.’

Hermione stared at Severus, feeling distraught at his ultimatum but knowing she now had no choice. She couldn’t risk losing him, not when the alternative was unhappiness and stagnation. It was going to be so hard to tell Ron, though.

‘I’ll see you next week,’ Severus said, all business again, and before Hermione could say anything else he opened the door and left the room.

Hermione watched him go, then used her wand to remove the silencing charm. It wasn’t needed any longer. She stared down at her desk, trying to process the overwhelming feelings inside her as tears ran down her face.

 

 

* * *

 

 

‘I take it you two were having another right old ding-dong in there,’ Osbert said, seeing Severus’ serious expression as he left Hermione’s office. He was getting himself a drink of water from the sink closest to the door. ‘Is everything okay?’ He gestured towards the closed door.

Severus shrugged and sighed. ‘Hermione’s a bit stressed out at the moment with everything that’s going on both here and at home. It’s making her argumentative and unable to accept constructive criticism. You know how it is — she’s got a short fuse that’s easily spent. She’ll be okay once she calms down. None of you need to worry.’ He walked towards the door of the laboratory and added, ‘I’m off now, I’ll see you next week.’

Osbert walked with him, clearly not ready to let Severus leave. Severus pushed down the urge to tell him to go away as the man trailed along beside him.

‘Perhaps you should try shagging her. That’ll shut her up,’ Osbert told him with a chuckle in what he obviously thought was a gruff man-to-man manner, followed by a wink and a nudge. ‘If you fuck her senseless she won’t be able to talk, let alone argue with you. End of problem.’

Severus studied him for a moment, wondering whether the somewhat gormless man knew what he and Hermione had been doing in the office, but soon realised he didn’t. This was obviously just some pet theory he wanted to expound on. Severus suspected he had already tried it out on Stephen and Jack previously, presumably without much success.

‘Yeah, I’m not sure that will help,’ Severus said slowly. ‘Anyway, I’m not that stupid . . . or that desperate. Hermione’s husband can sort her out. That’s what he’s there for.’

‘She’d have to go home for that to happen, though,’ Osbert pointed out. ‘I don’t really think Ron’s the sort of bloke to take control, if you know what I mean.’ He winked at Severus again and nudged him in the ribs.

Severus looked at him disgustedly. ‘I wouldn’t let Hermione hear you saying anything like that. She takes her relationship with Weasley extraordinarily seriously.’

‘Too seriously, perhaps?’ Osbert asked, dropping the act and finally getting to the point. ‘Is she going to leave the team, Severus? Her husband’s working at Wheezes now, isn’t he? We heard they were going to move to Hogsmeade.’

‘That is one potential plan,’ Severus conceded. As he saw the anxious expression on Osbert’s face he added, ‘However, I wouldn’t hold your breath on that. Even if Weasley does move to Hogsmeade, Hermione’s not going to give up on this team. It means far too much to her — you all mean far too much to her.’ He smiled. ‘Never fear, Hermione won’t let you down. I promise.’

‘But with all the stress and that—’

‘I told you, Hermione won’t let you down. If she goes with her husband to Hogsmeade it won’t be until after the project finishes — she won’t let anything get in the way of that. Anyway. with the results we’ve been seeing it’s not going to be too long before we move into clinical trials and then hopefully it will all be over, the virus will be contained and we’ll only have the remedial work left, working out how to eradicate it and seeing why it happened so nothing like it happens again.’

‘Will you still be with us?’ Osbert asked.

Severus considered the question for a couple of seconds, then shrugged. ‘Maybe, maybe not. I think my need to be here is coming to an end, and retirement and obscurity calls.’ Seeing Osbert’s face drop further he added, ‘I will stay until I’m not needed any longer but just remember that you were a fine team before I joined you. You achieved lots of good stuff — and you’ll be just as fine without me. Hermione knew exactly what she was doing when she chose you all and she made excellent choices.

‘Soon this will all be over and you’ll be moving onto bigger and better things, Osbert, having been part of a highly successful team. You should be celebrating, not worrying. I know the Minister sees me as some sort of security blanket and it’s got you all feeling the same way, but if anything it’s the other way round.

‘You lot and Hermione are the ones that have achieved everything, have battled every obstacle and overcome every problem to get where we are today. I’ve just added a few thoughts and brewed a few potions. I’m certainly no stronger than the team, and without me you would continue just as effectively.’

Osbert looked at Severus as if he didn’t believe what he was saying but eventually he gave a small smile and nodded. ‘Just make sure you don’t disappear without saying goodbye first.’

‘Oh don’t worry, you’ll hear me,’ Severus said with a grin. ‘Now, I have to go. I promised I would drop in and see Draco before I left. I’ll see you next week.’

‘She would miss you if you went completely,’ Osbert blurted out, going bright red. Severus looked at him with interest as he continued, ‘Hermione, I mean. I know the two of you argue a lot and she might not tell you, but she really does appreciate your talents.’

Severus smiled. ‘I know she does, and believe me, Osbert, I appreciate hers just as much.’

‘See you then,’ Osbert said. He raised his hand in farewell.

‘I’ll see you next week,’ Severus promised as he walked off down the corridor, relieved to finally be alone.

 

 

* * *

 

 

Hermione dried her eyes before leaving the toilet cubicle. She had been hiding out in here ever since her latest row with Severus, which had left her feeling anxious and unhappy once more. 

She was well aware that another two weeks had passed since she had agreed to leave Ron for him, she didn’t need him to remind her that time was ticking away. But Severus seemed to have no concept of how difficult it was to talk to a husband whose only interest at the moment was his new shop and the stock that lay within it. Hermione couldn’t even get him to get involved in the everyday stuff they needed to discuss, let alone get him to stay around long enough to talk about their marriage. Severus was angry at what he perceived to be her continued stalling and she could understand why to some extent, but there was nothing she could do about it, especially at the moment, with Ron and his brother off checking out the new shop. She wasn’t even sure how long he was going to be gone. 

Hermione had only managed to catch Ron for a couple of minutes before he disappeared off carrying a large holdall that suggested he would be away for more than a couple of days. He had brushed aside all her concerns, promising her that everything was under control and he would tell her all about it once he returned from his trip. This sounded suspiciously like he was organising Hermione’s life in a way she wasn’t going to be happy with, and it left her feeling anxious about what Ron was planning on top of everything else she was already having to deal with.  But as Ron was currently in Hogsmeade she was stuck in a stalemate position until he returned home.

Severus getting annoyed with her really hadn’t helped her stress levels at all, and she still had a meeting with Kingsley to get through, which was just going to be a rehash of old ground as she had nothing new to report, and that was becoming ever more difficult to explain, too.

‘Are you okay, Hermione?’

Hermione started at the sound of Lisa’s voice. She had thought she was alone in the bathroom. Panic-induced nausea rose within her at the thought that Lisa might have heard her crying, knowing how that would likely come across. The last thing she needed was her team thinking that she was cracking up and unable to cope.

As she left the cubicle Hermione tried to smile, hoping that her eyes weren’t red from the crying. Maybe she could get away with it.

‘I’m fine. Just trying to prepare myself for the meeting with Kingsley. It’s hard to think of different ways to say the same thing I’ve been saying for the last few weeks. It’s so difficult when everyone’s expecting me to give them the good news they’re waiting for. They don’t understand that it takes time and that until the results come through I don’t have any new information for them.’

‘I bet your argument with Severus didn’t help. That will have put you on edge too,’ Lisa said tentatively.

She was worried about Hermione after what appeared to be yet another massive row with their colleague and wanted to reassure her boss that the team still supported her however difficult her relationship with their star performer was, but wasn’t quite sure how to say it without being seen as interfering. She had also heard Hermione crying but knew that the woman would be likely be mortified if she mentioned it.

Hermione could feel her heart pounding as a wave of panic washed over her. Had the team heard what they had been arguing about? Probably not; after all, they had never heard before so this time was unlikely to be any different; they just knew they were arguing again.

She forced herself to calm down and give a small smile. ‘That seems about par for the course these days, I’m afraid. Severus has always been a cantankerous old bastard but I think he’s getting worse as he gets older.’     

‘I thought it might have been something to do with your move to Hogsmeade,’ Lisa said. ‘We heard that Ron is taking over the joke shop up there and Severus does seem very keen that you push yourself in your career. I wondered whether he thinks you’re running away and it’s causing a bit of a clash.’

Hermione sighed. ‘There is a bit of that going on,’ she allowed.

‘I hope you don’t think I’m talking out of turn,’ Lisa said, sounding a little unsure, ‘but all this arguing and that, it’s not good for you, especially when you bottle it all up like you do, Hermione. You need to talk to someone about it — to a friend who will listen, who might be able to offer some sensible advice that you haven’t considered previously or will make clearer what you have. You’re always at the laboratory, you never take any time for yourself and that’s no good for your mental health — the only thing it’ll get you in the end is a padded cell.

‘You have so much to cope with already with this project and everyone’s expectations of you, so it’s no wonder that you’re finding it a struggle. If Severus — and your husband, come to that — are putting extra stress on you because of their expectations too, no wonder you’re having trouble if you’ve got no safety valve.’

Hermione knew what Lisa was saying was true — someone to share the anxieties and problems with would be extremely helpful, even if they gave no advice — but the truth was that there was no one like that in her life. At school her only real friends had been Harry and Ron; she had eschewed the traditional female friendships in order to help Harry with his destiny. The problem was that Harry was, and had always been, Ron’s friend first and foremost and her friend second, so there was no way she could discuss anything to do with her marriage without him becoming over-invested and no doubt angry on Ron’s behalf.

The same was true with the few women she talked to on a regular basis — both Ginny and Molly were too close to the problem and neither woman would be likely to understand Hermione’s dilemma when it was their brother/son that she was going to upset. The only other women she knew these days were the rest of the Weasley wives — who would be as much use as a chocolate fireguard — or the dozen or so women on the various virus teams, none of whom she could really consider as a friend or could confide the truth to about what was happening in her life.

‘How do you find someone like that?’ she asked morosely.

Hermione was aware that with her question she was opening herself up to Lisa more than she really should. But the truth was that she was exhausted from trying to deal with everything alone and any suggestions about where to find someone to talk to would be gratefully received.

‘Do you not have a best friend you could talk to?’ Lisa asked gently, her heart going out to the stressed and clearly unhappy woman standing in front of her.

Hermione shook her head, trying to surreptitiously wipe away a tear that had appeared in her eye as she admitted, ‘Ron and Harry are my best friends and it seems I can’t talk to either of them at the moment.’

Lisa frowned as she considered the problem, then she grinned. ‘If you just want to offload on someone you can always talk to me. I’m happy to listen, and I can keep a secret. Anything you tell me will stay strictly between you and me. You can tell me as little or as much as you want — however much you need to help you relieve the stress you’re under. I might not have any bright ideas, but at least you can get it off your chest without worrying about blowing a gasket in front of the others.’

Hermione tried to protest, knowing that she couldn’t open up to Lisa in the way the woman was suggesting, but Lisa was adamant that she could help. Putting her hand reassuringly on Hermione’s arm, Lisa glanced at her watch.

‘You’ve got an hour before your meeting with Kingsley so let’s go and get a cuppa and have a chat. If you don’t want to open up you don’t have to, but a bit of time away from the laboratory will do you some good. It’ll clear your mind, at least,’ she said kindly.

‘I ought to be getting back—’ Hermione started.

‘You’re not going to miss anything by being away for three-quarters of an hour, Hermione,’ Lisa pointed out, her smile still firmly in place. ‘Now come on. I promise you’ll feel better.

Somewhat reluctantly, Hermione followed her colleague out of the door.


	8. Seven

‘Ron, I really need to talk to you,’ Hermione said.

She had been sitting in the kitchen of their flat waiting for him to return home for almost three hours now, and she was wound up as tight as the coil of a spring. Ron had been in Hogsmeade for over a week and the only contact between them had been the owl he had sent yesterday telling her that he would be home tonight by seven p.m. It was now almost ten and he had only just walked out of the Floo, still talking about the bloody shop.

‘Don’t worry, love, I’m going to tell you all about it,’ Ron assured her cheerfully. He waved the bag he was still carrying. ‘Just let me just dump this and make a cup of tea and we can go through it.’ He chuckled as he thought about something, then added, ‘It’s been a funny old week. We’ve had a real laugh, me and George. But I'll tell you all about that in a minute. Put the kettle on.’ He walked out of the room, his voice trailing back to Hermione as he said, ‘A sandwich or something wouldn’t go amiss either.’

Hermione sighed and stood up, putting water in the kettle and placing it on the stove to boil while she went to the fridge to retrieve the milk, then took two mugs from the cupboard and placed them on the table. By the time Ron came back to the kitchen the teapot had joined them and Hermione had taken a portion of the shepherd’s pie she had made earlier from where it had been keeping warm in the oven and put it on a plate in front of him.

Ron thanked her appreciatively before tucking in, taking mouthfuls of the hot tea between bites of the food. Hermione sat and watched him eat, sipping delicately at her own tea as she debated how she was going to approach the conversation she needed to have with him.

She knew what she needed to say, but how she was going to say it was the issue. Ron could be so touchy that the slightest thing could set him off when he was in the right mood; the last thing she needed was for him to lose his temper, especially over something so emotive. She needed to wait and judge from the way he spoke to her how best to tackle him.

Hermione was feeling a bit annoyed with Ron for making her wait, not just this evening but for the whole week, as it meant the time she had left to sort things out was so short now — it had to be done tonight. Severus would be back in the office the day after tomorrow and if she wasn’t ready to go with him then he was going to leave both her and the project completely, and then Merlin only knew what her life would be reduced to.

Knowing how wound up she currently felt, Hermione couldn’t help wondering what she would have been like if she hadn’t had her get-togethers with Lisa — and there had been several over the last few days. The other woman was as good as her word, never prying but allowing Hermione to reveal as much or as little as she wanted to talk about; and surprisingly, Hermione had found herself talking.

At first the conversation had been somewhat stilted, Hermione not wanting to open herself up to scrutiny and their relative positions within the team causing a slight barrier between them. But understanding her reluctance, Lisa had talked about herself instead, revealing some interesting and painful facts that Hermione had never known or even guessed at, in an attempt to show she was serious about being friends. This allowed Hermione, in turn, to talk of things that she had never shared with anyone else.

By the time they returned to the laboratory, Hermione felt a little better and was more than able to face the upcoming meeting with Kingsley and his advisers. She hadn’t actually discussed anything to do with her current situation with Lisa, but getting old gripes off her chest and explaining to her new friend about her relationship with Severus prior to his inclusion in the team eased the weight inside her far more than she had expected it to.

They had now met up three times more since that initial coffee date, and both women discovered a friendship that, while still in its early stages, Hermione was certain would last far beyond the current project.

She liked that Lisa was happy to listen without prejudice to anything she wanted to tell her, never pushing for more salacious or interesting information, and Hermione was the same with her new friend. They were comfortable with each other and it had given Hermione the confidence to open up and discuss things she had never expected to reveal to anyone. She liked having a best friend.

Although she still hadn’t told Lisa about her relationship with Severus, Hermione had by now discussed her marriage to Ron and her complete disinterest in his new job and his plans for their future. She had also shared her frustration that regardless of however many times she had tried to talk to him about it, Ron didn’t seem to be taking her desires into account at all. All he was interested in was in what he wanted to do.

Lisa was sympathetic and agreed wholeheartedly that Hermione shouldn’t force herself into something as serious as having a family when she wasn’t ready for the experience and reminded her that she wasn’t a bad person for not wanting to have children when her career was going so well. She also understood her antipathy to working in the joke shop and seemed surprised that Ron had even bothered to suggest it, knowing Hermione’s interests were far more academic in nature.

Only this afternoon Hermione had found herself revealing what she’d had to do to attract Severus to the team, without mentioning anything about the sexual tension and its eventual outcome. She wasn’t sure whether Lisa was more impressed or shocked at the lengths she had been forced to go to in order to get the snarky ex-Potions Master’s help; if nothing else it had definitely impressed upon her how dedicated Hermione was to the project and hopefully, if Lisa did reveal anything to the rest of the team, it would be this rather than any of the more personal stuff they had discussed.

But now she waited impatiently for Ron to finish his meal so she could finally break the news that she should, if she was honest, have given him months ago, probably before he even left the Ministry of Magic.

‘The shop is looking really good,’ Ron said happily, after a large burp that Hermione assumed he was using as a means of praising the shepherd’s pie rather than actually complimenting her on it. ‘There was loads that needed doing to it — those blokes that ran Zonko’s left the place in a right old mess — but between me and George we got it all cleaned up and decorated. That’s why I was gone for so long. Is there any more tea, love?’

Hermione pushed the teapot towards him, then went to the fridge to get the milk out once more.

‘Do you want another?’ Ron asked, waving the teapot in the air.

Hermione didn’t really want another drink as she was feeling sick, the anxiety of what she had to say making her stomach roil, but her mouth was getting dry and at least holding the mug would give her something to do with her hands to disguise her nervousness.

She nodded, then watched as Ron poured a stream of dark tea into her mug, spilling a little onto the table. Giving a low sigh, Hermione left the table again to retrieve a dishcloth and wipe up the spilt tea before throwing it into the sink.

‘Are you okay, Hermione? You seem a bit tense tonight,’ Ron commented. Before she could answer he continued, ‘I’m sorry I didn’t let you know about what we were doing at the shop but we were really busy and just wanted to get it finished. Neither of us thought about anything but getting it done.’ His expression turned shamefaced. ‘I probably should have warned you I was going to be away for so long. Still, no harm done, eh? And at least the shop’s all ready to go. It looks amazing — honestly, it does.’

He smiled at her and took a sip of his tea. ‘We’ve completed all the decorating and tomorrow we’re going back there with a load of stuff to start filling the shelves. I reckon with a bit of luck we’ll be completely stocked by this time next week. George is putting an advert in the _Daily Prophet_ and _The Quibbler_ — we’re going to have the grand opening a week this Saturday. It’ll be the perfect time because it’s the first Hogsmeade weekend of the year at Hogwarts so the place will be rammed to the gills with all those students desperate to get all the stuff their parents wouldn’t let them buy in Diagon Alley!’

‘Wow, congratulations,’ Hermione said.

She was slightly overwhelmed by the news that the shop was already completed and ready to open so soon. She had expected it to be another couple of months yet. She was trying to show some enthusiasm for Ron’s news but was having trouble. All she could think about was what she needed to say, and how her news was going to burst Ron’s bubble in the worst way possible.

Then again, he wasn’t actually showing any interest in what she really thought. As usual, Ron assumed that she was happy to go along with what he wanted, regardless of what her plans might actually be.

‘Yeah, I know, we’re way ahead of schedule,’ Ron said happily. ‘Anyway, I know you’re not ready to work in the shop full time yet as your project’s still ongoing, but you can dip your toe in the water, so to speak, and if it all gets a bit much for you — selling is much harder than it looks, you know, Hermione — then you can always nip upstairs and begin to sort out the flat.’

Hermione stared at him quizzically, not sure she understood what he was saying.

‘Dip my toe. When are you—’

‘Next Saturday, of course,’ Ron interjected enthusiastically. ‘You can help me and George in running the shop and get your first taste of retail life. We’ll need your help with the amount of people we’re expecting through the doors. I’m going to ask Harry and Ginny if they want to come along too. We might have to get them helping out as well — especially if you want to get sorted with the flat.’

He stopped for a moment, took another mouthful of tea, then continued, ‘I was hoping you might be able to get a couple of days off, actually — a long weekend, you know. You must be due one all the hours you put in at that bloody place. It’s going to be a bit of a push to get all settled in and get the shop up and running so you might want a few days to do it in.’

Hermione frowned. She was completely confused now. ‘What needs doing to the flat? Is it uninhabitable or just in need of a good clean? Surely it won’t take that long, will it?’

Ron laughed good-naturedly. ‘There’s nothing wrong with the flat, it’s good to go. We redecorated it at the same time as the shop . . .  and we even decorated the spare room as a nursery.’ He beamed as if he had achieved something magnificent. ‘I’m talking about getting all our stuff unpacked — I know it’s a bit ambitious doing it all in the same weekend, but it’ll tell everyone that we’re serious about the place.’

Hermione closed her eyes and counted to ten before speaking. Ignoring the mention of the nursery as she wasn’t yet in any way ready to deal with that, she enquired, ‘When you say all our stuff?’

‘You don’t have to worry about anything, I’ve arranged it all already,’ Ron told her, still grinning like the Cheshire Cat. ‘I knew you’d be too busy with your work so it’s all been taken care of. I’ve even arranged for someone to come and pack everything up for us. You won’t need to do anything at this end. It’s just a case of unpacking at the other. That’s why I thought a long weekend—’

‘Are you telling me that you’ve arranged for us to move out of this flat to the one above the shop in Hogsmeade and you didn’t even discuss it with me first?’ Hermione asked, clenching her fists below the table as she tried to keep her temper in check.

Ron stared at her as if he couldn’t understand why she was making a fuss.

‘We’ve been talking about this move for ages, Hermione, so I thought the best thing to do was just to go ahead and arrange it. I know your project hasn’t finished yet but you’ll be able to Floo to work from Hogsmeade just as easily as you do from here. You never know, once you’re in and helping out in the shop you might realise you don’t need all those late nights in the laboratory and someone else can finish off the project for you. I mean, everything’s set up — the shop, the nursery, we just need to move in.’

Hermione took a sip of her now cold tea in order to give herself a moment to calm down and to cut off the hex she was sorely tempted to send her husband’s way. It had been bad enough when Ron had just been talking about their future life as if it was a done deal, but the grinning idiot had actually gone and arranged it all behind her back.

‘Moving isn’t that easy,’ she tried to point out. ‘It’s not just a case of packing everything up and going—’

Of course it is,’ Ron said with a grin. ‘You can sort out what you want to keep or get rid of when you get there, that’s why a long weekend would be good. We need to be out of here by next Friday, anyway.’

‘Why do we need to be out of here by then?’ Hermione asked, dread growing inside her.

‘Because the new people move in that day,’ Ron answered as if it was obvious. ‘There was no point in paying rent on a place we weren’t going to need so I told the landlord he could get someone else in straight away.’

‘I can’t believe you’ve done all this without asking me first,’ Hermione said, sounding stunned. She was shaking with rage and could feel tears of anger welling up.

‘I don’t really understand why you’re so upset,’ Ron said. ‘I’ve done it all so you didn’t have to take time out of your precious job to arrange the move. I was being considerate.’

‘No you weren’t. You were just thinking of yourself and what you want again,’ Hermione retorted, wiping away the tears that had now started to fall.

‘But we agreed,’ Ron said, sounding bewildered. ‘A new start and a family. We agreed it was the right thing to do, Hermione.’

Hermione shook her head. ‘I never agreed to any of this, Ronald. _You_ kept talking about it — you almost drove me insane the way you kept going on — but I never agreed to it because it wasn’t something I was ready for. It isn’t what _I_ want.’

‘I have no intention of moving to Hogsmeade while I’m still working on the project, as I must have told you at least two dozen times now if not more. And while we’re at it, there’s absolutely no way I am helping you in the shop — not now or in the future. The idea leaves me completely cold and I can’t think of anything more boring than being stuck in a shop all day, except for being stuck at home with children. The problem, Ron, is that your vision of a perfect life is an absolute nightmare for me,’ Hermione concluded.

‘But I thought we had decided,’ Ron said again, weakly.

‘No. We never decided anything — you just kept telling me,’ Hermione pointed out. ‘At no point did I agree with you about anything, except you leaving the Auror Office. That was obviously the right decision for you because you’ve been so much happier since you’ve been working with George. But the rest of it was still under discussion as far as I was concerned and wasn’t going to even be considered further until the project was over and I knew what I was going to do next.’

Looking glum now, Ron said, ‘I thought you were going to give up working for the Ministry at the top of your game, were going to help me in the shop and raise our children.’

Hermione shook her head sadly. ‘You never bothered to ask me what I thought about these great plans of yours. You just kept foisting them on me and getting your family to reiterate what a great idea it was. That’s why I kept telling you to wait until the project was completed before making any firm decisions. I love my job, Ron, and I want to keep achieving things. I don’t think this is the pinnacle of my career. I think I can achieve more and so does Severus. A quiet family life in Hogsmeade isn’t what I’m ready for.’

‘Severus? Oh, yes, of course. I should have known _Snape_ would come into it somewhere,’ Ron said bitterly. ‘You’ve changed so much since he joined the team, Hermione, and not for the better either.’

‘Severus joining the team was the best thing that could ever have happened — for me and the team,’ Hermione batted back, unable to stop herself. ‘At least he listens to me and gives me the chance to make my own decisions. He doesn’t decide what’s best for me and force me into things I don’t want to do. He loves me and wants me to do great things, not fester away in some backwater with a brood of children, slowly stifling because of the interminable boredom.’

Hermione knew that what she had just said was disingenuous as Severus had, in his own way, been every bit as controlling as Ron — but at least he hadn’t ignored all her concerns and moved her into Spinner’s End without telling her. She also realised with a start that she had given away her secret. This was not how she had meant her husband to find out about her relationship with Severus.

‘He loves you.’ Ron stared at her coldly. ‘What do you mean, he loves you?’

Hermione sighed and rubbed her eyes. ‘Severus and I have got closer since we’ve been working together,’ she admitted much more quietly. ‘You and I have such different visions of our future, Ron, so much so that it’s clear we’re not suited to each other any longer. We want such different things—’

‘Why is he in love with you?’ Ron growled asking the question again. ‘What’s happened between you to make him fall in love with you?’

‘I told you, we—’

‘Have you been sleeping with him behind my back?’ Ron asked.

Hermione swallowed deeply, then nodded. ‘I didn’t mean for it to happen,’ she said hurriedly, trying to explain. ‘But you and I weren’t getting on, and all this crap about moving to Hogsmeade and starting a family was really beginning to get me down. I didn’t want to say no to you outright, didn’t want to burst all your dreams when there was a possibility that I would feel the same way as you once the project was over and I had a chance to assess the situation properly.

‘But you wouldn’t give me the chance to explain how I felt, wouldn’t let me finish what _I_ was doing, and didn’t give me any support except where you thought it might help your cause. In contrast, Severus was so supportive and—’

‘Yeah, I bet he was,’ Ron retorted snidely.

‘At least he cares about what _I_ want. He doesn’t just go ahead and make plans without bothering to tell me about them and assume I’ll just happily slot in even if it’s the exact opposite of what I want to do,’ Hermione told him, her voice icy. ‘I don’t know why you’re so worried, anyway, it’s not as if you want to have sex with me. You and I weren’t doing it at all when Severus and I first got together, and it’s been no great shakes since, even with me trying to get you to be a bit more adventurous. To be honest, Ron, I don’t know how you think we were ever going to have a baby with your low sex drive.’

‘So, what, you’ve become some slut who needs sex all the time?’ Ron bit back, stung by Hermione’s comment.

‘No, but I enjoy having sex regularly and I know you’re not bothered — yet another thing that we no longer have in common. We really aren’t suited any longer. Surely you must be able to see that?’

‘I dunno what I see,’ Ron said dully, shaking his head with disappointment.

He poured himself another cup of tea from the pot, then glowered at Hermione for several long minutes before speaking again.

‘I can’t believe that you’re willing to ruin all the good stuff that’s happening for us because of old snarky Snape. I’ve no idea what you see in him, Hermione. He’s just a bitter old man who’s done nothing but cause problems for us from the first time we met him.’

Fiercely, Hermione answered, ‘He’s intelligent, inspiring, a top rate wizard and a brilliant potions maker, and so much more supportive than you could ever be because he understands what I’m going through and cares about how I feel . . .

‘. . . and I love him, too,’ she admitted quietly.

Ron closed his eyes at these last words, a mournful sigh escaping his lips.

‘I’m sorry, Ronald. I really am. I tried so hard to give us a chance — you have no idea,’ Hermione said quietly. ‘But at the end of the day, you and I want — and need — totally different things and I don’t believe either of us would be happy if we stayed together. I don’t want to live in Hogsmeade and I don’t want to have anything to do with the joke shop. I don’t want to have children, at least not in the foreseeable future. I want to continue my research work, wherever that takes me, and I don’t think you would be any happier following my dream than I would be following yours.

‘I love you, Ron, and I always will — and I know you love me too. But I honestly think it’s time to cut our losses and separate before the love turns to hate, as it will do eventually if either of us forces the other to do something we don’t want to do. With or without Severus, I will never be happy without my work and I really do believe that Hogsmeade is the perfect place for you — I’ve seen how happy just preparing for it has made you. Once you’re settled you’ll find someone who shares your dream and you’ll realise that I’m right.’

Overwhelmed by the emotion running through her, Hermione began to sob, tears of grief pouring down her cheeks as she wept for her lost marriage, and for the friend who she was no longer sure was going to be a friend.

Ron watched her for several minutes, the anger and disappointment raging through him in equal measure. Part of him wanted to hold Hermione, to ease her pain, but a larger part, the angry part, hoped she never stopped crying. She deserved to be miserable after what she had done to him. He finished his tea, then stood up and left the kitchen.

Hermione continued to sit there, trying to stem the tears. Ten minutes later Ron was back with his holdall.

‘I’m going to Harry’s,’ he said gruffly. ‘I can’t stay here tonight.’

Hermione nodded as she stared at him morosely.

‘Tomorrow I’m going back up to Hogsmeade with George,’ he continued, sounding deflated. ‘I’ve got a shop to get stocked.’

‘I’ll pack my stuff, then the removers can take the rest to Hogsmeade,’ Hermione told him. She stood up and moved towards him.

‘Okay . . . well . . . .’ Ron looked suddenly uncomfortable. ‘Goodbye then.’

Hermione burst into tears again and before Ron could do anything to stop her she wrapped her arms around him and hugged him tightly. He patted her back a couple of times as if trying to console her, then with a huge sigh he returned the hug.

‘I’m so sorry, Ron,’ Hermione whispered.

‘So am I,’ Ron said as he pulled away.

Hermione wrapped her arms around herself as she watched Ron use the Floo, then sat down at the kitchen table, the tears flowing once again like rain.


	9. Eight

‘What was so important that you couldn’t wait until later?’ Lisa asked Hermione as they sat in the staff restaurant.

She was dying to know what was happening because her friend looked more miserable than she had seen her in a long time. She also looked as if she hadn’t slept for a week, her clothes rumpled and dishevelled and her hair more crazy than ever.

Hermione was prodding a piece of bacon on her plate, moving it around without actually eating it. She was feeling sick and had absolutely no interest in food. She hadn’t actually wanted to come to the staff restaurant in the first place, but she didn’t think Lisa would be happy about being holed up in the toilets for a chat and it was vital she talked to her before she had to face Severus. With the number of meetings she had scheduled over the next day or so now was the only time she had free.

‘I’ve ended my marriage to Ron,’ Hermione admitted quietly. Once again she prodded disconsolately at the bacon.

Lisa stared at her in shock. ‘You’ve what? That’s a bit sudden, isn’t it? I thought the two of you were trying to decide whether to go to Hogsmeade or not.’

Hermione gave a loud sigh. ‘He decided without me.’

‘What do you mean?’ Lisa looked confused. ‘Did he leave or what?’

Hermione shook her head sadly. ‘No. He and George have spent the last week or so in Hogsmeade cleaning and redecorating the shop and flat. The shop is due to open next weekend.’

‘That’s a bit quick. I thought it was happening after the project was wrapped up?’

‘So did I, but apparently Ron had other ideas. Shame he didn’t bother telling me about them before he gave up our flat and arranged for all our stuff to be moved to Hogsmeade.’

‘He did what?’ Lisa stared at her with the same expression Hermione knew her own face had held when Ron had told her about their impending move.

Hermione nodded. ‘Yep. Someone’s coming to pack up the flat next week. We’ve got to be out by next Friday as the new tenants are moving in.’

‘But where are you going to live?’ Lisa asked worriedly. ‘You’re not going to Hogsmeade, are you? You just said you and Ron had split.’

‘We have. To be honest, I was going to do it anyway. I had already decided that Hogsmeade and babies wasn’t for me. But after what he did I had no choice but to end it there and then. I just can’t believe he didn’t bother telling me what he was doing. He’s even decorated one of the rooms as a nursery, which shows that he didn’t bother listening at all to any of my misgivings about giving up work and just assumed that I would do what he wanted in the end. Well, he can get stuffed.’

‘You don’t think you’re being a bit hasty, do you?’ Lisa suggested.

Hermione frowned. ‘What do you mean?’

‘I know you were angry with Ron because of what he did, Hermione, and I know you’re not keen on the idea of moving to Hogsmeade, but maybe if you give it a chance it’ll turn out to be better than you thought. I’m not saying you need to buy into it completely and go the whole hog with the babies and everything, but you can at least take some time to establish that it really isn’t what you want.’

‘I already know it isn’t,’ Hermione retorted.

She looked around and saw Harry coming towards her, across the room. She sighed and dropped her fork onto her plate, then stood up.

‘I need to go,’ she told Lisa. ‘I don’t want to talk to Harry at the moment. Ron stayed with him last night so no doubt he wants to have a go at me for being a horrible person.’

‘Perhaps you should talk to him. He’s your friend, isn’t he?’ Lisa asked.

Hermione snorted. ‘Only when he wants to be. At the moment I think he’s going to be Ron’s friend rather than mine. I’ll see you later, Lisa. I’ve got a couple of things to do before my meeting with the other team leaders, so I really need to get going anyway.’

‘Hermione!’ Harry waved at her to make sure she saw him.

Hermione sighed again then, knowing she had no choice, walked towards her old friend.

‘Morning, Harry. I can’t stop, I’m afraid, I’ve got a meeting shortly and there’s things I need to do before I go to it.’

Harry frowned. ‘I need to talk to you, Hermione. I’m sure you can spare me a couple of minutes.’

Hermione shook her head, ready to explain again that she couldn’t, Harry took hold of her arm.

‘We need to talk,’ he hissed. ‘Last night, Ron said some things—’

‘Whatever he told you was probably correct,’ Hermione said dully, ‘unless he said that I agreed to go and live in Hogsmeade with him and have babies. I never agreed to either of those things and yet he arranged it anyway.’

‘Can we go somewhere else?’ Harry asked. ‘He mentioned something about Snape.’ Harry’s voice dropped at the last word, trying to ensure that no one else could hear.

Hermione sighed. ‘Whatever he told you is true so I don’t know what we’ve got to talk about.’

‘I want to know what’s got into you. Why are you treating Ron like this?’ Harry asked.

Hermione sighed even louder this time. ‘ _This_ is exactly why I haven’t talked to you, Harry. I already knew you would take his side — you always do. Let’s face it, I’m in a group of one where the Weasleys are concerned.’

‘I’m not taking Ron’s side,’ Harry said, looking surprised. ‘I’m just trying to find out what’s happening between my two best friends. The story I got from Ron was pretty garbled, to be honest, so I thought I’d ask you about it. At least I know you’ll give me a coherent response.’

‘Come on then, walk with me back to the laboratory and I’ll explain to you what’s happened, but you’re probably not going to like it,’ Hermione said, resigned to having to talk to Harry.   

 

 

* * *

 

 

Hermione was feeling incredibly nervous and wished that she had stopped at the coffee shop on her way into work. Of course, caffeine wasn’t really going to help her but the comforting thought of it made her feel even twitchier because she didn’t have any. The stupid thing was that she didn’t even know why she was feeling like this. All she was going to do was tell Severus exactly what he wanted to hear, so there was no reason for the sense of panic that had taken hold of her insides and was slowly spreading to engulf her.

She looked over at the clock. She had thirty minutes until Severus would be joining them for the weekly team meeting, thirty minutes until she called him in and gave him the news he had been waiting for. But how would she be able to conduct a meeting afterwards knowing the emotions that were bound to be released during their conversation? Perhaps she should wait until after the meeting to tell him? But if she did that, then Severus might think she was stalling again and carry out his threat to leave before she could do anything to stop him.

The whole thing was making her so frustrated and confused that she wanted to scream.

Hermione drummed her fingers on the desk in a rapid staccato rhythm, growing faster as she tried to make a decision on what to do, feeling the time inexorably ticking away. She knew she was acting a little irrationally but was that any wonder after what she had been through recently? All the problems she had been so steadfastly trying to avoid for the last few months had come crashing down on her all at once and she was feeling more pressured than before. It should have been easy, especially now she had admitted it all to Ron and Harry, but if anything it seemed harder than ever.

Outside the door she could hear Jack, Lisa and Osbert laughing about something as they worked. For a moment paranoia set in: fear that they were discussing her and her situation, that Lisa was informing her colleagues of the details Hermione had drunkenly shared with her over a few glasses of wine the night before. Queasiness rose within her at the thought of her friend betraying her confidence. She should never have become friends with the woman in the first place and then this would never have happened.

Hermione wanted to shout out and tell them to shut up talking and laughing, that she knew it was her they were discussing, but she already felt ostracised and knew that saying anything would only make it worse. If only she hadn’t taken Lisa into her confidence, but it was too late now; by the time Severus arrived for the meeting the whole laboratory, and quite probably the other teams too, would know about the two of them.

She knew it shouldn’t matter as it was unlikely that Severus would allow the relationship to remain a secret and so they would all know soon enough anyway, but she wanted people to know because she chose to tell them, not because she and her tangled love life were the subject of office gossip. 

Twenty-five minutes left now and she still didn’t know how to handle the conversation, but at least her staff had finally stopped gossiping, or at least had moved away from her door to do it. Hermione picked up a file containing a report from Adriana Pérez that she had been meaning to read all morning but hadn’t been able to find the concentration for. She should just about have enough time to get through it before the meeting.

‘Knock knock,’ Lisa said cheerfully as she mimed knocking on the open door. She came in, took one look at Hermione and shut the door behind her so they could talk privately. ‘Are you all right, Hermione?’ she asked anxiously, her smile disappearing to be replaced by an expression of concern as she sat down.

Hermione stared at her, not entirely sure where to start.

‘I was just talking to Jack and Osbert about their bowling evening. They were telling me about the team they were playing and it sounded hysterical. When you go out there ask one of them about it — honestly, it was the funniest thing I’ve heard in weeks.’

Hermione felt some of the tension inside her begin to dissipate. Okay, so perhaps they hadn’t been talking about her after all.

‘I thought perhaps you were telling them about—’ she began.

‘Definitely not,’ Lisa cut in stridently. ‘I told you before, anything you tell me stays strictly between us — and I would hope that works both ways.’

‘Of course it does,’ Hermione said with a relieved smile. She rubbed her eyes. ‘Sorry, I’m just a bit paranoid at the moment, I guess.’

‘Worried about this morning?’ Lisa asked shrewdly.

Hermione nodded. ‘Severus will be here in twenty minutes and I don’t know whether to talk to him first and then try to hold the team meeting or whether to do the meeting first and hope that he doesn’t storm off in a snit because he thinks I still haven’t done anything about Ron.’

‘Are you going to be up to holding the meeting after?’ Lisa asked seriously.

Hermione shrugged and sighed. ‘I don’t know. It depends on how emotional it all gets, I suppose. I’d rather wait until after the meeting to talk to him but I don’t want to risk him storming out and upsetting everyone.’

‘Tell him you’ll talk to him after the meeting then,’ Lisa suggested. ‘Then he won’t be trying to second guess you and you can relax and take the meeting without worrying about him blowing a gasket.’

‘I don’t even know why this is so stressful,’ Hermione said unhappily. ‘I mean, it’s all but settled.’

‘Are you sure you’re making the right decision?’ Lisa asked quietly.

‘Do you think I’m making a mistake then?’ Hermione was anxious again now.

Lisa mulled the question around in her mind for a few seconds before answering. ‘I think you’re in a difficult position, where neither option is quite right for you at the moment, Hermione. I think it’s a shame that your husband and Severus both chose now to start demanding changes rather than waiting until the end of the project when it would be far easier for you to work out what you really want. If you weren’t still doing this it’s quite possible that you and Ron could be happy in Hogsmeade. I don’t mean you working in the shop — I can’t ever see that being a viable option for you, but the rest of it might be good.’

‘But I love Severus,’ Hermione said.

‘Do you?’ Lisa asked. She studied Hermione’s face. ‘You’re always arguing, and he’s always pushing. Your relationship is tempestuous but because of that lack of intimacy with Ron you’ve latched onto Severus. I know he’s good in bed, Hermione, but is that worth all the other grief you get from him? Passionate relationships often burn out quickly. What happens if your sex life goes the same way as it has with Ron? What have you got left then? Will there still be enough there for you to continue or will it just be arguments and you being miserable?

‘Also, how much of your decision is driven by the need to keep Severus on the team?’ Lisa continued when Hermione just stared at her disconsolately. ‘Severus threatening to leave us if you don’t choose him is only one step removed from what Ron did, you know. It’s every bit as manipulative, and a bloody mean thing to do when he knows how important this team is to you.’ 

Hermione sighed, looking downcast. ‘I know they’ve been as bad as each other. I have to admit there was a point where I felt like telling them both to bugger off and leave me alone,’ she admitted.

‘So why don’t you, then?’ Lisa asked.

Hermione looked distressed. ‘You know why. Because Severus will leave the team. Everyone’s already unhappy with me because he’s stopped coming to the laboratory. What are they going to say if he says he’s never coming back?’

‘We were a bit unfair to you when Severus first changed his working pattern because we assumed that it was your fault,’ Lisa admitted ruefully. ‘But then we discussed it and realised that Severus was at fault too, and we’d just refused to acknowledge it. You’re right that the others will be disappointed if he goes for good, but by the time I’ve had a quiet word with them about what you had to go through to get him to join us in the first place, and that he left because he was putting pressure on you to act in a way you didn’t want to, they’ll be more understanding.

‘You know this project is almost ready to be turned over to clinical trials and from what Severus has always told us he’s going to disappear back into obscurity as soon as that happens anyway. You’re talking probably another couple of months at the most—’

‘That’s not guaranteed though, something could still go wrong. We’re only in the early stages of testing,’ Hermione said unhappily. ‘And I don’t want everyone to know about Severus’ ultimatum.’

‘You’re being unnecessarily pessimistic, Hermione. We’ve all seen the results that have been coming through. It’s possible that there might be a small setback between now and the clinical stages, but we’re almost there and we probably don’t need Severus any longer, anyway.’

Lisa studied her friend sympathetically for a moment before adding, ‘As for the other thing, I didn’t intend to tell the others about that, just that he was putting pressure on you again — we all know when the two of you have been arguing and we know that most of the time it’s because he’s trying to push you too hard. I don’t think anyone would be that surprised if you told him to get lost after the way things have been between you for the last couple of months.’

Hermione sighed. ‘I just wish he hadn’t done it now. I want to be with him, I honestly do, but it sticks in my craw that I’m giving in to blackmail, and he knows it. If he’d waited until the end of the project there would have been no issue, especially with Ron pulling all that Hogsmeade crap.’

She stopped speaking, feeling slightly guilty, knowing that even if Severus had waited for the end of the project she still wouldn’t have wanted to make a decision — wasn’t that what she had been trying to put off for so long and what he had been annoyed about?

‘So tell him you’ll do it but not until the project is finished,’ Lisa said.

‘I’ve tried that — that’s what led to his ultimatum in the first place,’ Hermione retorted in frustration.

‘What you need to do is work out what _you_ want and go with that, whatever anyone else says,’ Lisa suggested. ‘I think you’re confused and upset because of the demands being placed on you, and it’s no wonder when you’re being pulled in two different directions and you still have the stress of running the team to think about.’

‘That’s all very well but Severus will be here in fifteen minutes,’ Hermione pointed out. ‘What am I supposed to say to him?’

‘What I just told you to say. Tell him he’ll have to wait until the project is over.’

‘And when he leaves the project?’ Hermione sounded distraught now.

Lisa shrugged uncaringly. ‘Then he goes. If Severus really cared about you that much he wouldn’t be putting you under so much pressure, Hermione. We managed without him before and we’ll manage again, especially as we’re so much further along. Don’t let him push you into making a mistake you’ll regret in the future. You wouldn’t let Ron dictate to you, so why let Severus do it?’

Hermione looked defeated. ‘Because we need Severus for the project.’

‘No, we don’t,’ Lisa said shaking her head. ‘Hermione, I know you say you love Severus but you’re not making this decision because you want to do it but because you think you ought to in order to keep the team running smoothly. If you’ve got any sense you’ll tell him he has to wait, and that if he wants to run away and sulk then that’s up to him. It’ll be his loss, not yours.’

‘I don’t think I can do that,’ Hermione admitted. ‘I’m scared that the team will fall apart.’

‘That you’re feeling like this is enough to say that you shouldn’t be agreeing to anything right now.’ Lisa said sensibly. ‘The team will _not_ fall apart just because you’re going to make Severus wait a few months.’

Lisa sighed as she realised Hermione was crying. She got up and went around the desk to give her friend a hug.

‘If he loves you he’ll back down. I understand why he was annoyed about you staying with Ron when you were seeing him too, but this is different — this is work, and if there’s one thing I know about Severus it’s that he understands how important all this is to you. Now dry your eyes, we’ve only got a few minutes.’

Hermione wiped her eyes with a tissue. Sadly, she said, ‘I don’t have much choice anyway. I won’t have anywhere to live after next week. If I don’t go with Severus I’ll end up sleeping here.’

‘Oh no. You are not saying yes to Severus just because you need a home,’ Lisa stated. ‘You can come and stay with Derek and me, we’ve got a spare room. You can stay as long as you like — at least until after the project finishes. Then you can think about things properly without needing to worry. What do you say? I can get Derek to move your stuff over this evening.’

‘I don’t want to put you out—’ Hermione started.

‘Nonsense. It’s the perfect solution. You can work out whether you want to be with Ron or Severus, without any pressure from either of them. Better still, removing yourself from both of them will make you less stressed in your job,’ Lisa said confidently.

Hermione sighed, but she didn’t say anything.

‘Well? Shall I talk to Derek? Come on, Hermione, say yes.’

Hermione gave a small nod although she felt her stomach clench as she did so. She knew Severus was going to be angry with her for her decision but Lisa was right. Whatever she felt for him she wasn’t making this decision for the right reasons and that would never have a good outcome, however much she wished it would.

‘Yes. I’ll come and stay at your place. Thank you, Lisa.’

Lisa smiled. ‘Not a problem, pet, and it’s definitely the right decision. You may still decide you want to be with Severus, but at least then it won’t be for the wrong reasons.’

‘I know you’re right,’ Hermione admitted. ‘I just wish I didn’t feel so sick at the thought of talking to Severus about it.’

‘Do you want me to talk to him?’ Lisa asked.

Hermione shook her head. ‘No, I have to do it. I’m just such a coward, that’s all.’

Lisa took hold of her hand and squeezed it. ‘I know it doesn’t seem that way at the moment, Hermione, but this is the right decision and it will all work out for the best in the end.’

‘I wish I could be so sure,’ Hermione said morosely.


	10. Nine

‘Have you told him?’ Severus’ voice was curt as he warily eyed Hermione.

She had made him wait until after their meeting, and his natural mistrustfulness and her dour expression made him suspect that she was stalling for time again. Although he understood that informing Weasley that their marriage was over was a difficult task for Hermione, a month was surely more than sufficient time for her to do the deed.

The decision had been made, she had told him she had chosen him, so why was it so hard for her to pass that information on to her husband? He could feel the tension inside him turning to anger as he waited for her to try to stymie him with her latest excuse.

Hermione nodded. ‘Yes. I told him, although it was difficult with him being holed up in that bloody shop in Hogsmeade for the last few weeks.’

Severus knew he should be relaxing now that Hermione had told Weasley, now that they would finally be together, but for some reason her still-tense expression left him feeling inexplicably anxious.

‘You told him about me?’ he asked, wanting it to be clear that Weasley knew exactly where things stood.

Hermione nodded again. ‘I did. Not exactly in the way I meant to tell him, but he knows you and I have been sleeping together.’

‘Are you okay?’

Severus moved towards her, ready to take her in his arms, now worried that the slight coldness between them was because of something Weasley had said or done to her. Before he reached her, Hermione moved away from him, deliberately moving behind her desk so that he couldn’t touch her. He frowned.

Hermione thought for a moment, then said, ‘Ron and George have finished the shop. It opens next weekend. He kindly arranged for someone to come to the flat to pack up all our stuff and transport it to Hogsmeade without bothering to tell me he was doing it.’

Snape realised from the tone of her voice that Hermione didn’t expect an answer, although his mind was working overtime trying to place what she was telling him in the context of their relationship.

‘He thought he was being considerate, but as you can imagine I wasn’t best pleased by his actions.’

‘But why did he do it? You never agreed to go to Hogsmeade with him, did you?’ Severus asked.

Hermione shook her head. ‘No. At no time during any of our discussions did I even hint that I was interested in going with him. But he’d made his mind up and decided I had agreed — he just assumed that I’d accept what was happening. He was talking about me working in the shop and even about me giving up my place on the team.’

‘But surely he knows you wouldn’t do that?’ Severus said with a frown. ‘He knows what this project means to you.’

Hermione sighed. ‘Apparently not. He seemed to be under the impression that once I was at the shop I would be happy to settle down and do what he wanted. Obviously, he knows better now.’

‘So when are you going to move in?’ Severus asked. The tightness in his chest had eased somewhat at hearing Hermione’s confirmation that her marriage was over.

‘I’m not,’ Hermione told him. She looked upset, her eyes glistening with tears but her face was set.

Severus stared at her in shock, unable to believe that he had heard her correctly.

‘What did you say?’ he asked quietly.

‘I said I’m not moving in with you — not yet. I was really annoyed with Ron for trying to steamroller me into doing something that I didn’t want to do and I told him to get lost. You’ve been just as bad in your own way, Severus. You know how important you are to this team and you’ve used that to force me into making a decision that I still don’t know is right for me.

‘I really do think I love you, but at the moment any decision I make with regard to our relationship is purely to stop you from leaving the project, not because I want to be with you.

‘I asked you to wait until the project was over, just as I asked Ron, and neither of you listened to me or bothered to consider what I was going through. Instead, you both tried to pull me in opposite directions. Ron’s gone because he doesn’t affect my work, whereas you—’ Hermione broke off as the tears started to flow.

She pulled a tissue from her pocket and wiped her eyes, took a deep breath, then continued, ‘Your ultimatum wasn’t fair, Severus, and I will _not_ bow to your blackmail. If you love me, as you keep telling me you do, then you’ll understand that I have to wait until the project is over before I decide whether you and I have a future together.

‘If you want to leave the project then go ahead, I’m not going to stop you. But if you do, it will prove to me that what you’ve been telling me about being in love with me isn’t true — because if it was then you couldn’t do that to me, because you know how important this project is to me and you know what you leaving will do to the rest of the team.’

Severus stared at Hermione, unable to speak, as he digested what she had just told him. She was right, of course, he had tried to railroad her into making a decision using his place in the team as leverage. Although part of him was angry that she wasn’t giving him what he wanted, she had at least got rid of her useless husband, so there was still hope that she would choose him eventually. He was strongly aware that now was not the time for him to storm off and leave the project otherwise he would definitely lose Hermione, and that he just couldn’t bear to think about.

‘So where are you going to go? You said you left Ron so I assume you’re not living with him, so where are you going to live?’

‘Don’t worry about that. I’ve got somewhere to live. It’ll give me a chance to think about things properly.’

‘You don’t want to tell me,’ Severus said stiffly.

Hermione shrugged. ‘Will it make any difference where I’m living? It’s not with Ron, and I thought that was the main thing you wanted me to change.’

‘I want you to come and live with me, you know that,’ Severus said.

‘And I may well do, but not until the project’s finished.’ She saw Severus scowl and added, ‘Anyway, if the results we’ve been seeing carry on being so good it will only be another couple of months. Surely you can wait that long, can’t you?’

Severus sighed loudly. ‘It doesn’t sound like I have much choice, does it, Hermione?’

‘Are you going to leave the project?’ Hermione asked, the ball of tension inside her stomach swelling as she asked the question.

Severus studied her for several seconds, then shook his head. ‘Of course not. We’ve got a project to finish, and how am I ever going to convince you that I love you if I walk away now?’

Hermione burst into tears. Severus went around the desk and wrapped his arms around her.

‘I’m sorry,’ he said quietly as he held her. ‘I was being unreasonable and you were right to call me out on it.’

‘I do want to be with you but I have to see this project out first,’ Hermione said apologetically.

‘I know.’ Severus brushed away her tears, then kissed her. ‘I love you, Hermione.’

‘I was so scared you would leave,’ Hermione admitted.

Severus shook his head. ‘Never. I wasn’t willing to let you go when you were with Weasley; I’m definitely not going anywhere now that you’ve got rid of him.’

He kissed her again.

‘I want you,’ Hermione said. She had moved out of the chair to hug Severus properly and was now leaning back against the desk.

‘Time for another silencing charm?’ Severus suggested.

‘Definitely!’ Hermione grinned at him.

‘Let me remind you what you’ll be saying yes to,’ Severus told her as he lifted her onto the desk, his mouth brushing whisper-soft kisses down her throat.

‘Yes, please,’ Hermione said, her hands already on the waistband of his trousers.

 

 

* * *

 

 

‘I really think you should support Ron this weekend,’ Harry said.

He and Hermione were having a cup of tea in a café down the road from the Ministry of Magic. Hermione hadn’t really wanted to go as she suspected he was going to spend the whole lunch break trying to convince her to get back together with her ex-husband, but she hadn’t been able to think of a decent enough excuse to get out of it. They were supposed to be friends, after all.

She sighed and looked across the table at him. ‘I really don’t think it’s a very good idea. Ron and I have separated and I’m not going back to him. If I turn up at the opening everyone’s going to get the wrong idea and think I’m backing down and that’s never going to happen. I want him to do well in his new venture, of course I do, but I can send him a good luck card for that.’ She took a sip of her tea then added, ‘I’m not sure he would want to see me anyway. Let’s face it, we didn’t exactly part on the best of terms.’

‘He’s been really miserable for the last week,’ Harry said as he stirred his own tea.

‘So even more reason for me not to go, then,’ Hermione answered.

‘But seeing you there might cheer him up a bit.’

Hermione gave a small snort and almost choked on her tea. ‘I think that’s very unlikely. I cheated on him, Harry, so I don’t think he’s going to be in that forgiving a mood.’

‘He might be,’ Harry said desperately. ‘If the two of you could just talk to each other, Hermione.’

She shook her head. ‘If he’s honestly that desperate to see me then it really wouldn’t be a good idea, me going to the opening. It would only get his hopes up and that’s not fair to Ron when nothing is going to come of it.’

Harry looked as if he was about to speak again. Hermione raised her hand to stop him. ‘No, listen to me, Harry. I am _not_ going back to Ron. I don’t want to live in Hogsmeade, I don’t want to work in a joke shop and I most definitely don’t want to have children at the moment. I love my work and intend to carry on doing it for as long as I can, and I’m sorry if you don’t like it, but I’m in love with Severus, not Ron.’

‘I really don’t understand how you and he . . . .’ Harry’s morose voice trailed off, seemingly unable to complete the sentence as he shook his head in disbelief.

‘I know you and Ron never liked him, but I never had a problem with Severus when we were at school. I always thought he was a good teacher, even if he was extremely biased towards the Slytherins and something of a bully. Since we’ve been working together I’ve come to appreciate what a genius he is with regard to potion-making. I’ve seen a completely different side to him, one that’s much softer and far more pleasant.’

‘But you and Ron always made such a good couple,’ Harry told her, sounding unhappy.

Hermione sighed again. ‘When we were at school, of course we did. All teenage sweethearts are cute and we complemented each other. But we’ve both changed, Harry. We grew up and grew apart — we’re not compatible any longer. I know it’s hard to accept, but it’s true. We both want completely different things in life and there just isn’t a way to reach a compromise — we’re at different ends of the spectrum and whichever way we go at least one of us is going to end up disappointed or hurt.‘

Harry frowned. ‘Ginny and I have very different lives but we manage okay, so I’m sure you and Ron can work it out if you just give it a chance.’

Hermione took a deep breath and took a sip of her tea, intended to give her a chance to calm down before she lost her temper with Harry. She knew getting annoyed with him wouldn’t help and would only succeed in entrenching him even further in Ron’s camp. She shouldn’t have to defend herself over her choice with her so-called best friend, but it looked like it was the only way she was going to convince Harry that she had made the right decision.

‘Look, Harry, I’m sure you don’t believe for one minute that Ron should have to give up his dreams so that I can achieve mine and I completely understand that. But why should I be expected to give up mine for him? Life in Hogsmeade isn’t for me, regardless of what work I’m doing — early mornings and late nights in the laboratory are never going to be compatible with the demands of running a shop, and whatever I move on to next, I already know that I will be every bit as dedicated as I am to the current project.

‘I also know that there’s no way the shop isn’t going to impact my life if I have to go and live there. I honestly have no interest in it at all, nor the time to worry about stock levels or any of the other things Ron’s always wittering on about. For me, it would just be a place for me to lay my head at night, and that’s not fair on either of us. It’ll just cause more arguments and stop either of us attaining the happiness we deserve. ~~~~

‘It pains me as much as it does you because Ron was such a good friend and I don’t know whether we’ll ever be able to recover that, but Severus gives me something Ron never did. He challenges me, and he excites me too. Ron just plods along doing whatever he wants and just assumes that I’ll slot into his life and become a good little Weasley wife — but that’s really not me, and if you’re honest, you know it isn’t. Ron will find someone else eventually. There are plenty of women out there who would be happy to settle into that sort of life — it’s just not right for me.’

‘But you’re not even giving it a chance,’ Harry said. ‘Perhaps once you move to Hogsmeade you’ll realise that you don’t need all the late nights at work. Maybe you’ll discover that being at the shop isn’t as bad you think it’s going to be.’

Hermione stared at him. ‘Do you want to leave the Ministry and go and work at the shop instead?’

Harry looked uncomfortable under her intense gaze. ‘No,’ he admitted. ‘But if Ginny wanted to do it then I would support her and give it a try. Maybe I would enjoy it, away from the stress and pressures of the Ministry.’

Hermione’s eyes narrowed and she glared at him. ‘You think working in a shop is as boring as I do, Harry, and I don’t believe for one minute that you would do it without a fight, not even for Ginny. Anyway, there’s more to all this than whether or not I work in some stupid joke shop — you know there is — there’s the whole breakdown of our marriage, and I can assure you that me moving somewhere I don’t want to be isn’t going to make that any better.

‘Ron seems to have got it into his brain that moving to Hogsmeade was going to be some sort of magic balm that would smooth over all the cracks in our relationship without him having to lift a finger. Cosy home, children, small-town business — they’re all his idea of heaven but my idea of hell — and he didn’t even bother to check I was onboard before he put it all in motion.

‘I don’t mean moving jobs. That was a good thing for him to do. We all know how unhappy he was as an Auror, and he’s suited to working in the joke shop. But the rest of it—’ Hermione shook her head with annoyance. ‘Perhaps if Ron had been content to let me finish with this project before making his demands I might have been more open to the proposition, although to be honest, it’s unlikely.’

‘He was just keen to make a fresh start,’ Harry said, dutifully sticking up for his friend. ‘He knew things weren’t the best between you and thought this would be a good way to start over.’

‘What, by completely ignoring my wishes and attempting to force me into a lifestyle I had no desire to take on?’ Hermione asked angrily. ‘He didn’t even have the decency to wait until the project was over like I asked him to — he gave up our flat, arranged for people to come and remove our belongings and move them to Hogsmeade, all without even bothering to tell me he was doing it. He even decorated one of the rooms in the flat as a nursery. How the hell is that starting over? It just compounded the problem and made me realise that he really doesn’t give a damn about my feelings at all — it’s all about him, as usual.’

‘Maybe if you had spent more time with Ron rather than staying late at work you might have sorted things out between you,’ Harry suggested. ‘It’s hard to consider other people’s needs when you never see them and have no idea what they want. Perhaps if you’d spent more time with Ron you and Snape wouldn’t have—’

‘You can stop right there. Harry. My relationship with Severus wasn’t some accident or a mistake that happened because I was spending too long at work,’ Hermione said sharply, cutting her friend off before he could say anything further. ‘The truth is that Ron and I have been going downhill for years. We had stopped having sex, we hardly talked to each other and when we did it was mainly because we were arguing. That was one of the reasons I started working longer hours in the first place — I couldn’t bear to be at home because it was so bloody miserable.

‘When Severus and I became . . . more intimate . . . it had been at least six months, maybe even more since Ron and I had done anything in the bedroom, so to be honest, I didn’t really feel all that guilty about it — not as guilty as I probably should have done, anyway. It wasn’t anyone’s fault, it was just natural progression, and I enjoyed having a sexual relationship again. More than that, I got support at work from someone who knew and understood the importance of what I was working on. Severus mentored me, pushing me to exceed my current achievements, making me realise that this project doesn’t need to be the end of my career.

‘When Ron said he was leaving the Ministry I was completely supportive as I knew how unhappy working there made him. But then, suddenly, he turned into this evangelical convert for country life and started going on about how it was a new start for both of us. I was stunned when he kept talking about us having children, considering we weren’t having sex at the time. Running the Hogsmeade shop and children was all he talked about, all the time, and it drove me mad, so I did the only thing sensible thing I could do and retreated back to the laboratory.’

‘Maybe if you had talked to him—’

Hermione growled with frustration. ‘Oh, Harry, don’t you think I tried? I talked to him until I was blue in the face, but as usual, he just ignored my concerns and ploughed ahead with what _he_ wanted to do.

‘He didn’t even bother to tell me what he was doing — that’s the worst thing. If he’d told me what he was thinking about doing I would have tried to make him wait like you should have done if you were any sort of a real friend. Why didn’t you stop him, or at least warn me what he was up to? It wasn’t fair of either of you to let him spring that on me.’

‘I didn’t know,’ Harry admitted. Hermione stared at him in disbelief. He shrugged, shaking his head. ‘Honestly, I didn’t. I knew he and George were a bit ahead of schedule but I didn’t realise it was that close, and I definitely didn’t know that he had arranged for someone to move all your belongings or that he’d given up your flat. Of course I’d have told you if I’d known that was going to happen. I’m not a complete idiot, Hermione.’

‘Unlike Ron, apparently.’

‘That’s unfair. He thought he was being helpful. He knows how busy and stressful your job is and he thought that if he sorted everything out you would have less to worry about.’

‘No, what he did was completely ignore my desires and try to make me accept his by default. He didn’t tell me because he knew he was in the wrong — or if he really didn’t have any idea that what he was doing was wrong then that proves he’s never actually bothered to listen to any conversation we’ve had ever since Hogsmeade was first suggested, because he had already decided what we were going to do regardless of whatever I said to him. Both those things show that we’re unsuited to be together. I don’t need a husband that selfish, Harry.’

‘Instead, you want to hitch your star to that of Severus Snape — a man so selfish that he was willing to let both me and my father die if it meant my mother lived,’ Harry retorted in disgust.

‘And who then spent the next two decades making up for that and keeping you alive,’ Hermione pointed out. ‘He almost died to save you, if you remember, so don’t suddenly start acting like he’s the enemy. You’re right, he is selfish — as far as I can see all men are — even you are, spending the last half hour trying to convince me to go back to Ron when if you were any sort of friend you’d be outraged at what he tried to do to me. As it happens, I’ve told Severus that he’s going to have to wait until after the project finishes before I make any decision about him, too. At the moment the only thing I want to focus on is the project and I can best do that without having to worry about Ron or Severus.'

‘You’ll still see him, though,’ Harry pointed out.

Hermione sighed. ‘He comes to the weekly staff meeting, that’s all. Until the project finishes I have no interest in personal relationships of any description. Look, to be honest, Harry, whatever happens in my future, Ron isn’t going to be a part of it but Severus probably will. Nothing anyone can say will make me resume my relationship with Ron and it’s equally unlikely that anything will stop my relationship with Severus.

‘I can only suggest that you take some time to think about whether you still want to be my friend. If you do then I expect a bit of support in my decisions, whether you like them or not, in the same way that you support Ron. If not, then I hope you have a happy and fulfilling life and that everything goes the way you want it to. Obviously, I’ll be heartbroken to lose your friendship as we’ve been through so much together, and I’m already one friend down. But I refuse to compromise my principles and I don’t want to hear any more from you about why I should be giving Ron another chance. That subject is closed.

Harry stared at Hermione in surprise. ‘You can’t mean that, surely, Hermione?’

‘Which bit? I don’t want to lose you as a friend, Harry, but I’m not willing to listen to any more crap about Ron. So if that’s all you’ve got—’

‘You’re asking me to choose between you and Ron,’ Harry said unhappily.

Hermione sighed, trying to tamp down her frustration. ‘No, I’m not. There’s absolutely no reason why you can’t continue to be friends with both of us. It’s perfectly simple: you don’t lecture me about what you think I should do and you respect any decisions I make, whether you agree with them or not. Then, when Ron starts going on about me, you simply tell him to give it up as a bad idea and get on with his life. You can help him get over this and move on, Harry, but not if you insist on seeing us both as being your friends only if we’re a couple.’ 

‘But it’s not that easy,’ Harry retorted.

‘It is. You just have to set your mind right.’

Hermione pulled her purse from her handbag and rummaged around inside for some change. She put it on the table, then after putting her purse away she stood up.

‘I need to get back to work. Send Ron and George my good wishes for the opening on Saturday . . . and say hi to Ginny for me.’

Harry stared at the money on the table as Hermione left the café without even looking back.


	11. Ten

Hermione blushed as Kingsley raised his glass and proposed the toast naming her as the recipient, for all her work on the completed project they were celebrating.

She gazed around at the smiling faces, enjoying seeing all her friends from her team and everyone from the all the teams across the world who it had been a pleasure to finally meet in person, as well as other Ministry colleagues and specially invited guests. Actually, there was one person missing although she had no idea why he wasn’t there. Severus Snape was missing and for Hermione, his absence was like a huge hole in her heart.

In one way she could understand it. She knew he felt uncomfortable about being in the spotlight and Kingsley and all his important friends would surely want to talk to the elusive Order of Merlin awardee given the opportunity, and he wouldn’t be keen to have to suffer that all evening. But Severus not being there meant the team was incomplete and she didn’t feel they could properly celebrate their victory without him.

Hermione also needed to talk to him, to get his opinion on a posting that Kingsley had offered her immediately before the party had started. It was an amazing opportunity for her, taking up a position at St Mungo’s overseeing all their clinical teams including those that were now working on the trials of the virus cure.

It was a dream promotion that gave her continued access to the work she had put so much of her life into, but more than that, it gave her the opportunity to branch out and follow research into several new areas. Better still, she had been told she could handpick her own team to accompany her, which meant her team’s jobs would be safe, assuming they wanted to continue working with her.

But Hermione knew that the job wasn’t going to be at all compatible with Severus’ lifestyle and even if he was willing to join her in the new posting he was still going to want her to move to the Muggle world with him, a place that she wasn’t sure she wanted to be — particularly his awful house at Spinner’s End. It had put a slight dampener on her spirits as it meant she was unable to accept the posting immediately or to tell her team about the opportunity, but however hard she searched for him, Severus definitely wasn’t at the party.

Ron was, though, as Hermione found out with a sense of discomfort when he accosted her during a brief moment of solitary contemplation.

‘What are you doing here?’ she asked stiffly when his greeting pulled her back into the room.

‘Harry got an invite to come from Kingsley, so he invited me along as well. You might not be able to support me, Hermione, but I do know how important what you’ve achieved here is, so I wanted to say congratulations. You’ve done a good job.’

‘Thank you,’ Hermione said. Politely, she continued, ‘So how’s the shop doing?’

Ron beamed. ‘It’s absolutely brilliant. It’s been an immediate hit. You ought to come and see—’ he broke off, looking suddenly awkward.

‘Perhaps I will eventually,’ Hermione said, the tense situation making her squirm too. ‘Look, sorry, Ron, but I really need to go and talk to Kingsley. Thank you for coming.’

With a silent sigh of relief, she turned away from her ex-husband. She didn’t really need to talk to Kingsley, he was just the first person she had thought of in her need to get away.

She felt an arm slip through hers and looked round to see Lisa grinning at her.

‘And who was that hunk you were talking to just now?’

‘That’s Ron,’ Hermione said.

‘What, your husband, Ron?’ Lisa asked, sounding astonished. ‘He’s looking gorgeous, Hermione. Moving away from the Ministry of Magic has done him the world of good. What’s he doing here, anyway?’

‘Apparently he came with Harry, who I didn’t know was here either,’ Hermione said disapprovingly. ‘I think it was his final attempt to get us back together.’

‘Are you sure you don’t want to? He’s pretty fit, that husband of yours,’ Lisa said with a smile.

‘Are we forgetting all the shitty things he did because he’s pretty? That’s really shallow, Lisa.’

Lisa gave a raucous laugh. ‘I was joking, pet. He is a nice looking man but he’s definitely not your type. You made the right choice.’

‘I haven’t made a choice yet. I’m waiting until I know what my next posting is going to be,’ Hermione reminded her.

‘Yeah, you have. You had decided when you told Harry to make up his mind whether he was still your mate or not. You wouldn’t have needed to say that if you and Severus weren’t going to get it together. You might have a few things to work out still, but you’ve definitely made your choice. Where is lover boy, anyway?’

Hermione shrugged. ‘I’ve no idea. It feels a bit odd without him being here, though — like the team isn’t complete and it seems wrong to celebrate. I assume he’s having one of his reclusive moments.’

‘Yeah, well, he’ll need to get over that if he’s going to be with you,’ Lisa said. ‘You’re big news now, Miss Successful Project. The papers will be all over you, and that will include your private life.’

‘It’s lucky I don’t have one then, isn’t it?’ Hermione retorted. ‘I live in your spare room, remember?’

‘For the moment, but there’s still your husband . . . and the messy break-up of your marriage . . . your sordid affair with Sev—’

‘Yes, thank you, I’m beginning to get the picture,’ Hermione said unhappily.

‘So will everyone else once Rita Skeeter gets her claws into you,’ Lisa warned.

‘I think I might need to have a little word with her,’ Hermione said without thinking.

‘Do you know her then?’ Lisa asked sounding interested. ‘Is she really as scurrilous as she comes across?’

‘We met her while we were at school. She wrote an article for the _Quibbler_ about Harry and Voldemort’s return during the final of the Triwizard Championship. We’ve got a bit of an understanding, so I don’t think she’s going to write anything too harmful about me. Not if she knows what’s good for her, anyway.’

‘Ooh, that sounds threatening,’ Lisa said happily. ‘Tell me more.’

Hermione shook her head. ‘Not tonight and not here. I’ll tell you when we get home.’

‘I’ll keep you to that,’ Lisa insisted.

‘I suppose I have to talk to Harry, don’t I?’ Hermione asked as she spotted her erstwhile friend.

‘It would be a sign of good faith,’ Lisa pointed out.

‘He hasn’t spoken to me at all since that day in the café.’

‘But he’s here today.’

Hermione snorted. ‘And he brought Ron with him.’

‘But at least he made the effort to come — to celebrate your achievement. It’s a start.’ Lisa squeezed Hermione’s arm. ‘Go and talk to him. It doesn’t have to be a long conversation.’

‘I suppose you’re right.’

Hermione let go of Lisa and walked towards Harry.

‘Hullo, Harry. How are Ginny and James doing?’

Harry chuckled. ‘They’re both fine, thanks. Ginny’s battling with everyone because she wants to go back to playing Quidditch and Molly wants her to stay at home and look after James.’ He rolled his eyes. ‘You know what those two are like. I’m trying to keep out of it as I can see both points of view and whatever I say will be wrong.’

He lifted his glass as if in a toast. ‘Congratulations, Hermione. This is a wonderful achievement for you, and I hear you’re moving onto bigger and better things, too.’

Hermione shrugged. ‘I don’t know yet. I haven’t had a chance to consider it properly.’

‘What’s there to consider? It’s a massive promotion. That’s what you wanted, isn’t it?’ Harry looked and sounded confused.

‘I don’t know. I mean it is, but I need to talk to Severus about it first.’

Harry’s face clouded over at the mention of Severus, his voice more clipped now as he said, ‘I thought that was what he wanted too — you off achieving wonderful things in your career and not worrying about a home life.’

Hermione sighed. ‘And that comment clearly shows you understand nothing about Severus. By the way, I don’t know why you brought Ron but it didn’t work. All it did was make us both feel awkward, so thanks for that.’

She went to walk away. Harry grabbed hold of her arm. ‘I just want to see my two best friends happy again.’

‘Then stop trying to push us back together, Harry. All that does is make things worse. You need to accept that it’s over and let us both get on with our lives. Hopefully, eventually, once Ron’s found someone else he’ll understand that I was right and we can be friends again, but that’s never going to happen if you keep trying to force the issue. I told you before, you need to respect my decisions.’

Harry looked shamefaced at her rebuke. ‘I’m sorry, I just thought that with the project over and you celebrating and everything you might give Ron another chance. He misses you, you know.’

Hermione stared at him. ‘No doubt because you never let him forget. Look, whatever happens in the future I am never going to live in Hogsmeade nor am I going anywhere near a joke shop. It’s quite clear that Ron has found his calling and I’m really happy for him, honestly, I am, but it’s not for me. Now please, do us all a favour and spend your talents on finding him a new girlfriend rather than terrorising me. We’ll all be much happier for it in the long run, I promise you.’

‘So what’s happening with you and Severus, then?’ Harry sounded as if he had to force the words out.

Hermione shrugged. ‘I don’t know, to be honest. That’s why I need to talk to him about the new job. It doesn’t fit into the lifestyle he wants at all, but that doesn’t mean I won’t take it. I just need to work out what’s going to be the best for me in the long run, and until I speak to Severus I can’t make a decision.’

‘Where is he, anyway? I’d have thought he’d be here for the party.’

‘He’s not keen on the spotlight and I think there are far too many ‘worthies’ who want to talk to him because he’s an Order of Merlin awardee, which doesn’t interest him in the slightest. It does feel a bit weird without him, though. I’m hoping he’ll turn up to the team party later. He already knows everybody who’ll be at that and none of them will pester him about his award or ask for stories of his brave deeds. Talking of which, have you seen Rita Skeeter around anywhere?’

Harry shook his head. ‘Nope. I saw that photographer from the _Daily Prophet_ when he was taking your photos during the presentation but no sign of a writer, why?’

‘Lisa reckons she’ll be sniffing around for a story now the project is a success. She mentioned what a good story the divorce etc. would make. I thought I’d have a little word with Rita before she gets it into her head to do anything spiteful.’ 

‘Hmm, that’s a good idea. If I see her I’ll send her your way. You’ve always had a talent for dealing with her,’ Harry said.

He looked around as there was an increase in noise amongst a certain section of the party guests. Then he nodded his head in the direction of the door, wrinkling his nose in disgust.

‘Looks like your boyfriend’s just turned up. For someone who doesn’t want a lot of fuss he’s certainly going out of his way to create it.’

Severus was dressed in his usual black, but the outfit was much finer than his normal day to day wear. Everything about him was immaculate and shining and he certainly stood out in the crowd. Hermione felt her heart flood with desire as she stared at him. As he moved deeper into the room a swell of people, all seemingly desperate to talk to the new arrival, surged towards him. Hermione saw his momentary expression of distaste, but then he walked towards Kingsley and firmly shook the Minister’s hand. 

‘Severus, what a pleasure to see you,’ Kingsley said with a smile.

‘Thank you, Kingsley. It’s good to see you too. I’m sorry I’m late but I don’t usually attend these sorts of functions. I would have been letting my team down if I hadn’t come, though.’ More loudly, he added, ‘I have to say that I’m really not in the mood for stories or discussion about awards or any of that nonsense, so I’d be grateful if everyone would leave me to celebrate with my team.’

The surge around him pulled back a little, disappointment showing on the faces of those who had hoped to draw him into conversation.

Kingsley nodded understandingly. ‘I’m sure that can be arranged, Severus.’ He looked out and spotted Hermione, waving her over. ‘There’s one of your team now. I’m sure she can rescue you.

‘Hermione—’

Hermione touched Harry’s arm. ‘I’d better go and save Severus. Thank you for coming tonight, Harry. I really do appreciate you and Ron turning up, even if it wasn’t entirely for the right reason. Give James a hug for me and say hi and good luck to Ginny.’ She paused for a moment, then added, ‘Perhaps we can have lunch sometime?’

Harry looked at her for a moment, then nodded. ‘We ought to celebrate your promotion.’

‘If I take it.’

‘You will,’ he said confidently.

Hermione walked over to Severus and took his arm.

‘You look very dashing this evening. No wonder everyone wants to talk to you.’

Severus scowled. ‘You know I’d rather not be here.’

‘I know. I’m really pleased you are, though. It didn’t feel right without you being here. The team wasn’t complete. Now come and get some champagne so we can celebrate. I have to admit, I thought you might turn up later for the team party rather than this one.’

‘I did think about it,’ Severus admitted, ‘but I figured it wouldn’t look good if I was the only one who didn’t turn up.’

‘I think we would have forgiven you,’ Hermione said with a smile.

‘Here you go.’ Stephen appeared carrying three glasses of champagne. He passed Hermione and Severus one each, then took a sip of the remaining one. ‘The teams are congregating next door. I think everyone’s had enough of the outsiders now,’ he told them.

‘My thoughts exactly,’ Hermione said with a smile. ‘Lead on.’

The side room was instantly more comfortable as far as Hermione was concerned and so she assumed it probably was for Severus too, with only the members of the various teams present. As she went to follow Stephen further into the room, Severus pulled her to a stop.

‘Is everything okay?’ she asked him anxiously.

He smiled at her, his hand reaching out to tenderly stroke her cheek.

‘I am so proud of you and everything you’ve achieved, Hermione. You and your team . . . all the teams . . . you’ve achieved something historic and it’s wonderful. That’s because you wouldn’t give up, however desperate the situation. You didn’t give in, even when the money was running out, when the situation was hopeless, you kept fighting, kept forcing everyone to perform and did whatever you had to do to keep the teams running. You did brilliantly.’

‘That was you, I think,’ Hermione said modestly. ‘You inspire everyone, Severus. I’ve seen how people react to you but I don’t think you understand how you help them to be better. All I did was try to hold the pieces together — you and all the rest of our colleagues were the ones who did all the real work.’

‘And you’re underselling yourself again,’ Severus was irritated. ‘That’s the thing that annoys me most about you, Hermione, that you can always see the achievements in everyone else yet you never understand how truly extraordinary your own accomplishments are.’

‘I’m not that extraordinary,’ Hermione insisted.

Severus smiled. ‘Oh, yes you are. I wouldn’t be so in love with you if you weren’t.’

He released her face, then pulled a small black box from his pocket, opened it and dropped to one knee, holding it out to her as he took her hand.

‘Hermione, you already know how much I adore you. Will you marry me?’

A ball of ice the size of a small cannonball formed in Hermione’s stomach as Severus’ words were revealed and she had to work hard not to cry out. She knew how much it must have taken for this most private of men to propose to her so publicly, but his timing was truly abysmal — she had so much to discuss with him before she could make any decisions on her future let alone whether or not they were going to get married.

She looked around realising that everyone in the team party had stopped what they were doing and was watching them avidly. She looked towards the door to the main party room. It, too, was packed with onlookers, including Harry and Ron who were both watching proceedings with stony faces.

Hermione tried to work out what she was going to say knowing that everyone in the place was waiting for her response. How could she let Severus down without him losing face in front of all those guests? It was impossible, but if she said yes then she wasn’t being true to the principles she had set herself either. Once again, she would be doing something because she was being forced into it not because she wanted it to happen.

But this question was the most serious she was ever likely to be asked and it would never come again, not from Severus. Hermione thought of being stuck at grim and depressing Spinner’s End and of St Mungo’s and the wonderful new job awaiting her if she could only accept it, and her eyes caught Harry’s as he scowled fiercely.

She moved her gaze to Ron, the two of them staring at each other for what seemed like an eternity but Hermione knew was only seconds. He gave her a small resigned smile and nodded, once. Hermione smiled back at him, her heart instantly lighter.

The pause was awkward, for Severus as well as for everyone who was watching with baited breath awaiting Hermione’s answer, and the excitement inside him deflated as he considered for the first time that Hermione might actually turn him down.

As much to cut the silence as anything, he said, ‘While you’re making your decision can I just say that if you do marry me, and I’m aware that you need to get your divorce out of the way first, that we have a lovely new home close to St Mungo’s hospital that we can move into whenever you’re ready so you’ll be close to work, should you decide to take that promotion.’

Hermione looked at him in astonishment. ‘You knew about the promotion?’

Severus shook his head laughing. ‘Not quite the response I was hoping for but yes, I knew about it.’

‘Of course I’ll marry you. I was going to say yes anyway, but that just seals the deal.’

Severus smiled widely as the onlookers clapped, and he placed the ring on Hermione’s finger, then stood up and pulled her into his arms, his lips finding hers.

‘I guess it’s not a secret any longer,’ Hermione whispered once the kiss finished.

‘Nope. Everyone knows you’re mine,’ Severus said, hugging her tightly.

‘About this home near St Mungo’s,’ Hermione said. ‘How long have you owned that?’

Severus shrugged, ‘About two days.’

Hermione stared at him in surprise. ‘Are you telling me you bought a house near St Mungo’s because of my promotion? And how did you know about that?’

‘Kingsley asked me last week if I thought you’d accept if he offered the post to you. I told him you would, but you’d need a little time to think about it first. It was such a brilliant job I knew I couldn’t possibly drag you off to Spinner’s End, so I thought it prudent to buy somewhere closer.’

‘Wizarding or Muggle?’ Hermione asked.

‘Does it matter?’

Hermione chuckled. ‘Not really, but I thought you’d had enough of the wizarding world.’

Severus shrugged. ‘Bits of it I can live with.’

‘So either you’re really rich or you’re now really broke,’ Hermione said. ‘Have you sold Spinner’s End to pay for the new house?’

‘Not yet. I wouldn’t be able to get that much for it anyway. You’ve seen what a dire area it’s in, and my laboratory is set up perfectly for my needs. As it happens, I owned another home which was far more desirable so I traded that in for the one in London.’

‘Why didn’t you tell me about this other house?’ Hermione asked suspiciously. ‘I was thinking that I was going to be stuck living in Spinner’s End when you had a perfectly good house elsewhere that you didn’t even tell me about.’

‘You wouldn’t have wanted to live there,’ Severus said confidently.

‘You don’t know that. What was it like?’

Severus grinned again. ‘It was in Hogsmeade, if you must know. Albus left it to me in his will. Perhaps you understand now why I didn’t bother to tell you about it?’

‘Ah, okay. You’re right. I definitely didn’t want to live there, particularly after I just told Harry that I would never live in Hogsmeade,’ Hermione admitted ruefully.

‘I thought you were going to say no,’ Severus said. ‘Are you sure you want to marry me?’

Hermione kissed him.

‘Of course I do. I just thought the timing was lousy because I hadn’t had a chance to tell you about the promotion and I knew it would impact on living at Spinner’s End. That reminds me. I need to do something. I’ll be back in a minute.’

‘Where are you going?’

‘I’ll tell you later,’ Hermione said as she headed for the door, back into the main party area hoping she wasn’t too late.

She caught Harry and Ron just as they were leaving.

‘Ron!’

He stopped and turned to look at her.

She ran up to him and gave him a massive hug. After a couple of seconds, he hugged her back.

‘Thank you,’ Hermione whispered.

‘I hate him,’ Ron said as they moved apart.

Hermione nodded. ‘I know.’

‘I love you,’ he said sounding maudlin.

‘I know that too,’ Hermione’s voice was sympathetic.

‘—and I hate you.’

‘And I don’t blame you in the slightest,’ Hermione told him. ‘But hopefully, that will change in time. I love you, too, you know, just—’

‘—not enough,’ Ron finished.

Hermione smiled at him. ‘Thank you for releasing me. You will find someone, you’re far too good to be left on the shelf for long. I’ll see you both later.’ She raised her hand in a wave, then turned away and headed back towards the team party.

‘What the hell was that about?’ Harry asked.

‘Closure,’ Ron said gruffly. ‘Come on, I think it’s time we went home. I’ve got a busy day tomorrow, it’s a Hogsmeade weekend.’


	12. Eleven

Hermione smoothed down her dress before walking through the garden towards the huge marquee.

Lisa walked alongside her, twirling the bouquet she was carrying. ‘At least it’s a nice day for it,’ she said jovially. ‘Having seen what the weather was like yesterday I thought we were all going to be in macs and galoshes.’

‘I think there’s more rain forecast for later this afternoon, but the ceremony will be out of the way by then and we’ll all be in the marquee,’ Hermione informed her.

‘How do you feel?’ Lisa asked. She studied her friend carefully.

Hermione shrugged. ‘A bit weird actually. I can’t explain it. It’s not like I thought it would never happen but . . . well . . . you know.’

‘Yeah, I know what you mean.’ Lisa went ahead of Hermione, opening the flap of the marquee.

‘Okay, you lot, get out. It’s bad luck to see the bride before the wedding.’

‘She isn’t here yet,’ a male voice complained.

‘She will be in a minute, so get out all of you — go on.’ Lisa stood in the entrance with her arms crossed glaring at the men, who slowly began to rouse themselves and moved complainingly out of the other entrance. Hermione stood behind her, waiting for the tent to empty.

Once everyone was gone Hermione followed Lisa in. Lisa dumped her bouquet on a table, picked up an open bottle of champagne and filled two flutes, passing one to Hermione as both women sat down. Hermione’s bouquet joined the other.

They clinked glasses.

‘To the perfect wedding,’ Lisa said with a grin.

‘Let’s hope it all goes smoothly,’ Hermione added.

‘You worry too much,’ Lisa told her.

Hermione shrugged. ‘It’s in my nature. Anyway, I just want everything to be perfect.’

‘I know you do and I’m sure it will be.’

Hermione sighed. ‘I just can’t believe that Ron is getting married before I am. I know we’ve been busy with work and everything, but Severus and I seem to have been engaged forever.’

Lisa chuckled. ‘Maybe today will give him the hint that he needs to get a move on. You look pretty hot in that dress — if he doesn’t hurry up someone else will snap you up.’

Hermione stared at the hideous bridesmaid’s dresses she and Lisa were both wearing and grimaced.

‘Do you think she put us in these on purpose?’ she asked. ‘I just can’t imagine someone choosing them except as a joke . . . or to get revenge, but I can’t see why Catherine would do that.’

There was a scrabbling noise outside the marquee and a moment later another woman, younger, but also wearing the same hideous dress as Hermione and Lisa entered.

‘Come and sit down, Charlotte. Have a glass of champagne.’ Lisa held out a just-filled glass. ‘We were just debating whether these dresses were some sort of revenge thing.’

‘They aren’t very nice, are they?’ Charlotte said meekly as she took the champagne and sat down. Her bouquet joined the others.

‘I’m not sure which bit is worse — the style, the fabric or the colour scheme,’ Lisa said.

‘I think it’s a mixture of all three things together,’ Hermione said uncertainly. ‘Perhaps if you took the elements separately they’d be okay.’

‘That fabric wouldn’t be okay on anything, except maybe a sofa,’ Lisa said, her nose wrinkling.

‘Are the men dressed the same?’ Hermione asked.

Charlotte nodded morosely. ‘Their waistcoats and ties are made of the same fabric.’

‘So, just extremely poor taste then,’ Lisa said.

‘When did you find out that Catherine had a thing about your ex-husband?’ Charlotte asked Hermione, trying to change the subject but managing it poorly.

Hermione shrugged. ‘The first I knew of it was when she came and told me she was leaving. I was a bit surprised, obviously, I didn’t think she knew him that well — but I guess it only takes one meeting.’

‘She was always really interested in him before the two of you split up,’ Lisa said. ‘She was always getting gossip about him from her friend Marcy in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, so maybe she fancied him even back then.’

‘Well good luck to her,’ Hermione said. ‘If she can put up with Ron she deserves him. They seem really happy, and I think the joke shop suits her better than being in the laboratory. I think they both found their ideal match.’

‘So when are you and Severus finally going to tie the knot?’ Charlotte asked.

Hermione shrugged. ‘How long’s a piece of string?’ Sardonically, she added, ‘I think the proposal was a grand gesture rather than anything else.’

‘Surely not?’ Charlotte looked shocked. ‘It’s obvious that Severus really loves you.’

‘Hmm, yes. And I think for Severus that’s the point. Everyone knows we’re a couple so he doesn’t feel any need to go any further. I suspect I could have a long wait unless Lisa’s right and I look so amazing in this dress that someone tries to sweep me off my feet today. Then he might do something about it.’

‘Maybe we should arrange something,’ Lisa said wickedly.

Hermione shook her head. ‘No, definitely not. I’ve got more than enough to do with work and I’m perfectly happy with things as they are at the moment. I don’t need to get married again.’ She looked at her watch. ‘Have we got any idea where the bride’s got to? I thought she was supposed to be here by now.’

‘She running late,’ Charlotte said knowledgeably. ‘She’s always late.’

‘Bride’s prerogative, I suppose,’ Hermione said. She picked up the bottle and poured some more champagne for everyone while Lisa went to find another bottle.   

There was a loud squeal as a huge white silk puffball exploded into the marquee. Hermione jumped, almost dropping her glass. She looked at Lisa, wondering if the noise had scared her as well.

‘Oh sweet Merlin, don’t you all look adorable,’ Catherine trilled. She had her hands clasped together as she stared at her three surprised bridesmaids. ‘Stand together, girls, let me see you with your bouquets.’

Hermione, Lisa and Charlotte picked up their bouquets and moved so they stood in a line awaiting Catherine’s approval.

She squealed again, jumping up and down as she clapped her hands together with excitement. ‘You look so wonderful. Just exactly how I envisaged you. That fabric is absolutely perfect.’

Hermione and Lisa shot each other a quick glance, Hermione having to bite her bottom lip before she burst out laughing.

‘Have a glass of champagne,’ Lisa said passing Catherine a glass. ‘I would say sit down but I don’t think you’re going to manage it in that, are you?’

They all stared at the huge meringue concoction of a dress that seemed to take up half the marquee.

‘This is just for the wedding service,’ Catherine confided. It’s removable so when we have the meal I’ll be able to sit down. I’ve got another gown for this evening.’

‘Yet she’s expecting us to wear these crappy old frocks all day,’ Lisa muttered.

Hermione hissed at her to shut up, but Catherine was clearly off in a world of her own and had no idea that anyone had even spoken.

‘I’ve dreamt of this day for so long and it’s exactly how I imagined it would be,’ she said dreamily.

She was twirling around the marquee as if dancing to unheard music. Then, without warning, she swooped and grabbed Hermione into a big hug.

‘Thank you so much for letting me marry Ron,’ she said.

Hermione looked surprised. ‘I didn’t have anything to do with it, Catherine.’

‘But you did. He would never have married me if you didn’t approve of me.’

‘I honestly don’t think I feature that heavily in Ron’s life, not for a long time now anyway,’ Hermione assured her. ‘But I’m glad he’s marrying you. I honestly think you’ll both be very happy together.’

Seemingly assured by the response, Catherine released her and floated away.

‘What was your wedding dress like?’ Lisa asked interestedly as she watched Catherine.

‘Plain, straight and strapless,’ Hermione said. ‘I didn’t want anything fussy.’

‘And the bridesmaids?’

‘There was only Ginny and she wore the same dress as me but in green because it went really well with her hair.’ 

‘Do you think Ron knows what’s coming to get him?’ Lisa asked. She had a wicked grin on her face now.

‘Probably not, but it’s going to be entertaining watching him,’ Hermione said. She too was smiling evilly.

‘It’s time to go,’ Charlotte said, a little unnecessarily as the wedding march had started playing outside the marquee.

‘Where’s your dad got to?’ Hermione asked.

‘I don’t know. He said he was going to follow me down,’ Catherine said unhappily. She looked like she was on the verge of tears.

‘I’ll go and find him,’ Lisa told her, patting her on the shoulder in a reassuring manner. ‘You all wait here and be ready to leave as soon we get back.’ Rolling her eyes, she gave Hermione her bouquet.

Hermione stared at her gratefully. ‘Be quick,’ she said.

Lisa nodded.

A couple of minutes later she was back with Catherine’s father.

‘He was out the front chatting and didn’t hear the music start,’ she explained. She offloaded him onto his daughter then took the bouquet from Hermione.

‘It’s show time!’

‘Enjoy,’ Hermione said and she kissed Catherine on the cheek as she passed her on her way out of the marquee.

She waited for Lisa and Charlotte to join her, then the three of them walked down the long aisle that had been decorated in the same pink and white rose pattern fabric that their dresses had been made of. Everywhere there were swathes of pink ribbons and vases full of pink and white roses. Hermione could see Ron and Harry standing at the front both dressed in grey dress robes with the waistcoats and ties that matched the rest of the décor.

Knowing Ron as well as she did, Hermione suspected that he was feeling a bit embarrassed as the outfit clashed dreadfully with his hair. She gave both men a sympathetic grin as she took her place opposite them. Harry returned the knowing look, Ron shrugged and smiled.

‘Good luck,’ Hermione whispered and smiled back, then turned and watched with everyone else as Catherine and her father made their way down the aisle.

 

 

* * *

 

 

‘What the fuck is that you’re wearing? It’s hideous,’ Severus said when Hermione finally joined him once the service was over.

‘Don’t you like it? I thought it was pretty sexy,’ Hermione teased.

Severus shook his head, looking disgusted. ‘I worry about you sometimes, you know.’

Hermione gave him a hug. ‘I didn’t choose the outfit although I do get to keep it, lucky me.’

‘As long as you don’t ever wear it again.’

‘And I thought you would be dying to rip it off me and ravish me,’ Hermione said sounding disappointed.

Severus grunted. ‘I might rip it off you, but not because of lust. I can guarantee that dress doesn’t even raise a flicker of interest.’

‘Not with you, maybe, but there are several young men out there who seem to be enamoured. Maybe I should go and speak to one of them instead.’

Hermione released him and went to move away, but Severus pulled her down onto his lap, wrapping his arms around her waist.

‘I think you’ll find that it’s Charlotte they’re enchanted by, not that awful dress . . . although it does look pretty good on her,’ he added, leering at the girl.

Hermione slapped him. ‘Are you saying they won’t be interested in me?’

‘They’re not getting the chance, my love. You’re mine, even if you are so hideously attired.’ He gave her a gentle kiss on the lips. ‘Do you know how long we have to stay for?’

‘All day,’ Hermione told him. ‘We’ve got the wedding breakfast in a minute and then there’s the reception this evening.’

Severus rolled his eyes. ‘Have we honestly got to stay here all that time?’

Hermione nodded.

‘Are you going to be wearing that bloody awful dress for the whole day?’

Hermione nodded again.

Severus groaned. ‘It’s bad enough that I had to come in the first place. I don’t even understand why we had to come to your ex-husband’s wedding.’

‘Because it wasn’t just my ex-husband,’ Hermione reminded him. ‘It was also an ex-colleague of both of ours, and she asked me to be a bridesmaid. I couldn’t really say no, could I? Anyway, it’s just one day.’

‘I suppose at least Catherine didn’t make you wear a dress like the one she wore. I definitely couldn’t put up with you in that all day. I don’t have a clue how she’s going to sit down,’ Severus grumbled.

‘The skirt comes off,’ Hermione said.

Severus scowled. ‘Then what’s the bloody point of wearing it in the first place?’

Hermione shrugged. ‘I assume she wanted a big dress.’

‘I hope you’re not thinking of wearing something like that for our wedding.’

‘Ooh, are we finally getting married then?’ Hermione had to work hard to keep the sarcasm out of her voice.

‘Not if you’re going to do anything like this,’ Severus said indicating the garish decorations.

Hermione could tell that he was already getting antsy, which meant his behaviour was sure to deteriorate over the course of the day. She was going to have to resort to blackmail.

‘If you play nicely for the next couple of hours, I’ll let you have a bit of a break between dinner and the reception,’ she cajoled.

‘What do you mean by a break?’ Severus looked at her suspiciously.

Hermione shrugged. ‘Oh, I don’t know . . . we could go back to the hotel for a couple of hours and find something to do. I refer you back to my previous comment about ravishing.’

‘I can get rid of that bloody dress?’

‘Yep. If you play your cards right, but I want you on your best behaviour until the end of the meal.’

Severus considered for a moment. ‘You know, I think you might be right about that dress, Hermione. It is pretty bloody sexy.’  

 

 

* * *

 

 

Hermione lay warm and cosy in Severus’ arms. The hideous dress lay in tatters on the floor, where it had been ever since he had ripped it from her within seconds of them entering their room.

She looked down at the destroyed garment, feeling a little guilty about what had happened to it. Catherine loved the dresses, even if no one else did, and would surely be heartbroken to discover what had happened to it. Hermione made a mental note to get it repaired. She would never wear the dress again but at least it would be intact in case Catherine ever wanted to see it.

Hermione moved her arm slightly to look at her watch. It was almost six o’clock. Soon they would need to think about moving. They needed to return to the wedding reception before they were missed, even though she was fairly certain that Severus didn’t want to go back.

‘Time to get up I’m afraid,’ she told him with a kiss on his forehead.

Severus groaned, then he grabbed her and pushed her down beneath him on the bed.

‘Do you know what, that dress made me hornier than I thought it would,’ he said, ‘or at least removing it did.’

‘As much as I would love to have sex with you again, we don’t really have time,’ Hermione pointed out. ‘I need to have a shower — as do you.’

‘Don’t tell me you’d rather go back to that bloody wedding rather than do this because I’ll know you’re lying,’ Severus said, rubbing himself against her provocatively.

Hermione moaned. ‘Stop it, Severus. We really don’t have time now. It’ll have to wait until later.’

‘Nope. You’re not going anywhere,’ he insisted.

Hermione moaned again.

‘You are a bad man, Severus Snape.’

‘And that’s why you love me,’ he whispered as he kissed her.

 

 

* * *

 

 

Severus watched Hermione as she watched Ron and Catherine dancing. She had a wistful look about her that he had never seen before and he wondered what she was thinking. Was she remembering her own wedding to Weasley and picturing their first dance together as husband and wife?

He was surprised to find how jealous the thought made him, although he knew it was completely irrational. Hermione was his and Ron was now married to someone else, so it wasn’t as if anything was ever going to happen between them again.

As he continued to watch her, Hermione gazed down at her engagement ring before returning to look back at the dancing couple and Severus remembered her sarcastic response from earlier in the day about them getting married. Perhaps her wistful gaze had nothing to do with Weasley but was instead to do with them and his as yet unfulfilled promise to her.

When Severus had asked Hermione to marry him he’d had every intention of following through on his proposal. But once they had moved into their new jobs and settled into the home he had bought for her it had seemed superfluous and a complete waste of time and money which would gain them little benefit, particularly once Catherine started planning her extravaganza of a wedding.

Severus had thought that Hermione felt the same way as he, not needing a stupid ceremony and a ring to cement their love, but now he realised that he might have been wrong. It seemed Hermione wanted to get married. He could see it in her face, in the tears glistening in her eyes as she watched her ex-husband and his new wife as they danced closely, gazing at each other with fervid devotion.

‘Do you want to dance, my love?’ he asked Hermione once other people started taking to the floor to join the newly-weds. He took hold of her ring hand, stroking it gently as he stared at her.

Hermione shook her head, blinking away the tears that had been threatening, realising that Severus was speaking to her.

She looked embarrassed. ‘Sorry, what did you say?’

‘I said do you want to dance?’ Severus smiled and gripped her hand tighter.

Hermione shook her head again. ‘No. I’m fine.’

Her refusal caused a tight feeling in his chest. Severus tried again. ‘Please, my love, I would really like to dance with you.’

‘I’m sorry, Severus, but I’m really not in the mood,’ Hermione said. She pulled her hand from his grasp and stood up. ‘I’m going to the loo. I’ll be back shortly.’

Severus watched her go, wondering what he had done wrong.

‘Knut for ‘em?’  

Lisa plonked herself down in the seat next to Severus, her husband Derek quietly taking the seat next to her.

‘Hermione—’ Severus began.

‘Surely you know what’s the matter with her,’ Lisa said. ‘It’s obvious.’

Severus sighed, ‘Apparently not to an idiot like me.’

Lisa studied him with sympathy. ‘You can’t help being a bloke. Your girl’s feeling emotional because of the wedding. She and Ron have still got a bond and it’s difficult for her to see him married — especially when she’s still single.’

‘But she doesn’t want to get married. We’ve talked about it, we’re too busy with work. Anyway, we’re perfectly happy as we are,’ Severus countered.

He shut up, looking glum, as he realised that his recollection might be wrong. While it was true that they had been busy with work, now he came to think of it he didn’t think he and Hermione had ever actually discussed marriage.

Lisa eyed him sceptically. ‘She might have told you that to keep you happy but it’s definitely not what she wants. Poor Hermione, she’s sitting here today, at her ex-husband’s wedding wearing a useless lump of rock that just reminds her that you don’t think enough of her to want her to be your wife, and you wonder what the problem is.’

Severus stared at her in horror. ‘What are you talking about, Lisa?’

‘Oh, come on Severus, you’re not a complete bloody idiot. What was the point of you making that grand gesture and proposing to Hermione in front of the whole world if you never had any intention of getting married to her? It was a wicked thing to do, especially when you knew how much her life was in turmoil at the time. She had already left Ron and had no intention of going back to him so you didn’t need to bribe her with an engagement ring, however pretty it is.’

‘That’s not why I asked her,’ Severus insisted. ‘I love Hermione. I love her more than anything in the world and I wanted her to be my wife . . . I _want_ her to be my wife. It just sort of got swept away with the new job and the new home. Then everything was ticking along okay, and we were busy at work so it seemed a bit pointless, and then Catherine started with all her ridiculous wedding plans and it seemed even more so. I certainly don’t want any of this sort of palaver.’

‘And neither does Hermione,’ Lisa said. ‘But she does want to get married and the fact that you’ve still done nothing about it makes her feel worthless and unloved, however well she tries to hide it.’

‘I knew coming here today would be a mistake,’ Severus said grumpily, feeling unfairly pilloried.

‘The problem isn’t the wedding, it’s you,’ Lisa told him bluntly. ‘All Hermione’s had all day is people asking her when you two are going to tie the knot — almost everyone here was at the Ministry that night and no one can understand why it’s taken you so long to follow up on your proposal.’

‘Well, if she was so worried about it she should have said something to me, shouldn’t she,’ Severus retorted coldly. ‘She never normally keeps her feelings to herself so I don’t know why she kept it bottled up this time.’

Lisa shook her head with incredulity as Derek winced. ‘You really don’t have a clue, do you? Gods, I’ve no idea why Hermione would even want to marry someone as wilfully ignorant as you are.’

‘What am I missing?’ Severus asked, trying to stop the anger and frustration he was feeling from erupting. ‘Please, Lisa. You’re right. I haven’t got a clue.’

Lisa looked at him warily for a moment then gave a small sigh. ‘Hermione thinks you don’t want to marry her. She thinks you used the engagement as a weapon in your battle to win her and that you never had any intention of getting married. She’s trying to make the best of it, but it’s really hurt her, and Ron getting married has just made the wound hurt a bit more.’

Severus looked stunned at her words. ‘But that’s not true.’ He shook his head, seemingly unable to say any more.

‘Maybe not, but that’s how Hermione sees it, and that’s why she’s never said anything to you — because despite everything she loves you and she’s worried that if she pushes for a wedding you’ll end the relationship.’

‘I would never do that. I love her so much it hurts. I’m always terrified she’s going to change her mind and leave me,’ Severus admitted.

‘If that’s true then you need to do something about it . . . and soon,’ Lisa told him.

Severus nodded in agreement, an anxious expression now on his face as he pondered what Lisa had told him. He tried to change it into something more neutral as he spotted Hermione coming towards them.

‘I see you changed dress as well,’ Hermione said pointing at the outfit Lisa was wearing.

‘Too bloody right. As soon as I found out Catherine was wearing a different dress this evening I decided I was as well. You couldn’t have paid me to wear that thing a moment longer than I did. I see you had the same idea.’

Hermione shrugged. ‘My dress had an unfortunate accident, so I had no choice but to get changed.’

‘An accident? What happened to it?’

‘Sadly, it got ripped,’ Severus said. He sounded a bit smug.

‘And what exactly were you doing that caused the dress to rip? Lisa asked.

‘Let’s just say it was getting in the way,’ Hermione said with a wicked grin.

‘Yeah. The bloody material on that thing was really tough. It took a lot of hard work,’ Severus said.

He stood up and held his hand out to Hermione.

‘I know you weren’t in the mood earlier but I really would like to dance with you, Hermione. Please?’

Hermione took his hand. ‘I’m guessing you’re not going to stop pestering me until I give in, so come on, let’s get it over and done with.’

Severus wrapped his arms around and her and gave her a squeeze. ‘I love you so much, and I don’t care whose wedding this is, I’m still the luckiest man here today because I’m with you.’

He kissed her and then they began to dance.

‘Do you think that was enough?’ Lisa asked Derek as they watched the dancers.

Derek nodded. ‘I think so. I think he was quite upset when you spelt it out to him.’

‘So he should have been. I just hope he finally sorts something out.’ Lisa sighed, shaking her head. ‘I dunno. You men are all so bloody useless.’

Derek grinned. ‘It’s lucky I’ve got you to sort me out, love, or I’d never get anything done. I just don’t know how I’d survive.’

She slapped him playfully. ‘Oi, cheeky bugger. Stop being so bloody sarcastic. You know what I mean.’

‘I do,’ Derek agreed equably. He stood up and held out his hand. ‘Are you going to dance with me?’

‘Don’t mind if I do,’ Lisa answered with a smile.


	13. Twelve

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, we're finally at the end of another story. Thank you to everyone who has been reading along. I'm glad you stuck with it and I hoped you enjoyed it. As always, I'd like to thank my wonderful beta, Mamacita, for everything she does. Dx

‘I thought we’d give work a miss today,’ Severus told Hermione as they were lying in bed having just made love.

‘Oh you did, did you?’ Hermione sounded half amused, half exasperated.

Severus kissed her.

‘It’s been a long time since we’ve both had a day off,’ he pointed out. ‘We could do with a day of doing nothing just to recharge our batteries. And if we’re not going into work then there’s no reason why we should get up yet. I can think of far more entertaining things to do without us needing to leave the bed.’

‘That’s a lovely idea, Severus, but we’re really busy at the moment—’

‘We’re always busy, Hermione,’ Severus said cutting her off, ‘and that isn’t going to change anytime soon. But taking a day off will be good for our mental wellbeing and in the long run it will help us to work better than ever.’

‘But what about everyone else?’

‘I’m sure they can cope without you for one day, my love. You’re a manager, not a slave foreman cracking the whip every five minutes, and you know your team can work perfectly well on their own.’

‘I meant why should everyone else have to work if we’re taking a day off?’

Severus sighed. ‘Why do you always have to be so bloody argumentative? Let’s face it, if we all kept having days off every time anyone else took a holiday we’d never get any work done. Everyone else has had plenty of days off this year, it’s only you who never takes a holiday. All I’m asking is that you take one day off with me. I don’t think that’s too much to ask . . . is it?’

‘Actually, can I just point out that I’m your boss and I didn’t give you permission to take the day off today,’ Hermione said.

Severus held her down on the bed and started tickling her.

‘I suggest you grant me permission now, then. I’ll stop tickling you when you say yes.’

‘Severus!’ Hermione was almost crying from the tickling.

She writhed, trying to get away from him, but Severus was merciless.

‘Say yes and I’ll stop.’

‘Yes, all right, you can have the day off! Now stop tickling me, it hurts.’

Severus hugged her. ‘And you’re going to take the day off too, yes?’

Hermione sighed. ‘Honestly, it would be lovely, but I can’t. I’ve got a meeting with—’

‘Erm, no you haven’t,’ Severus cut in. ‘I rearranged your appointment until tomorrow. In fact, I cleared everything from your calendar today so you could have the day off.’

Hermione stared at him, anger coursing through her at his interference, but she forced herself to calm down. Severus wasn’t being malicious or trying to usurp her authority, he was just trying to provide her with the means to have a day off by leaving her day clear and free of work. It wasn’t something to get annoyed with him about.

She gave him a hug and kissed him.

‘Thank you for being so thoughtful. We’ll need to tell them we’re not coming in, though.’

‘Don’t worry about that, they already know.’ Hermione frowned at Severus’ words. He shrugged. ‘I told Lisa before she left last night that we wouldn’t be in.’

‘That wasn’t your decision to make,’ Hermione said as she sat up, the anger spiralling again.

Severus pulled her back down. ‘No, but it was the only way I was ever going to get you to take the bloody day off. Now stop sulking and come here. I want to make love to you again and I don’t need you being a moody mare. A day off is supposed to be a good thing, not the cause of an argument.’

‘It was how you went about it that annoyed me,’ Hermione said. ‘Why do you men always think that you can just arrange things the way you want them without any thought about what anyone else might want? You’re all the bloody same.’

‘I’m sorry,’ Severus said, crestfallen now. ‘If I’d known it was going to upset you so much I wouldn’t have done it. I thought it would be a nice surprise — an unexpected day off — but I was obviously wrong.’

Hermione sighed. ‘It was a lovely thought, but you know how much I hate being forced into doing stuff that I don’t want to do.’

‘Why don’t you want a day off?’ Severus asked. ‘And don’t say it’s because we’re too busy because that’s not true, as I’ve proved. What’s the matter, don’t you want to spend time alone with me?’

‘I didn’t mean I don’t want a day off, that came out wrong. I’m just fed up with my life being managed by men who think they know what’s best for me all the time. Why couldn’t you just ask me if we could take today off and let me rearrange my own meetings?’

‘Because you wouldn’t have done it,’ Severus said bluntly. ‘If I’d asked you to take today off you’d have told me you had a meeting. If I’d suggested moving it you’d have said you couldn’t. We could have gone through your calendar for the next three months and not found a single day that you would consider suitable for a day off, so I had no choice but to do it for you. I’m sorry you don’t like it, but it’s done, so I suggest you make the best of it. Don’t worry, you’ll be back at work tomorrow — bright and early, no doubt.’

He got out of bed and disappeared into the bathroom, closing the door just a little too hard.

Hermione stared after him, feeling as if she had just been slapped.

When had she become so unreasonable? Severus had taken the time to rearrange her diary so she could take a rare day off, a chance to spend some time alone with him, the person she loved most in the world, and all she had done was criticise him and treat him as if he had committed some heinous crime. She was an idiot, and the worst thing was that Severus was right. If he had asked her instead of taking it into his own hands to arrange she would never have taken the time off. He’d had no choice but to force her into it.

She waited, hoping that Severus had just gone to the loo and was coming back out soon. She couldn’t bear him being angry with her, especially when he hadn’t done anything wrong.

The door opened.

‘I’m sorry, Severus. I’m an idiot,’ Hermione said before he even made it into the bedroom. ‘You did a wonderful thing for me and I was being ungrateful. Please come back to bed. I want to show you just how grateful I am.’

‘Now _that_ is the sort of apology I am more than happy to accept,’ Severus told her.

 

 

* * *

 

 

Hermione had expected Severus to want to stay in bed all day, but it seemed that despite his promise of a day of doing nothing he obviously had something planned as by eleven a.m. they were out of the shower and getting dressed.

He hadn’t told her where they were going, which Hermione was trying not get annoyed about, instead attempting to treat it as the nice surprise Severus presumably intended. Unfortunately, she wasn’t very good at surprises and not knowing what they were going to be doing was making her anxious.

‘If you’d just tell me where we’re going, I’d know how to dress,’ she pointed out as she watched Severus buttoning up one of the many black frock coats he owned. ‘It’s all right for you, you always wear the same bloody thing.’

‘Do you want me to choose you an outfit?’ Severus asked mildly. He turned from the mirror. ‘I’d be more than happy to do so, but I don’t want to upset you again.’

‘I just need to know how to dress,’ Hermione said.

Severus came over and gave her a hug.

‘This isn’t something to get upset over, my love.’ He led her towards her wardrobe, opening it and looking inside. ‘If you don’t trust me to make the decision for you, how about I choose three outfits and then you pick the one you want to wear? Is that fair?’

‘But I still don’t know what we’re doing.’

‘Hmm, let me see: a bit of walking, a bit of standing, a bit of sitting and some eating and drinking,’ Severus replied.

‘That tells me nothing,’ Hermione grumbled.

Severus chuckled. ‘It tells you everything you need to know. Now stop worrying.’

He rummaged around in the wardrobe for a couple of minutes as Hermione watched him anxiously. Eventually, he pulled out three coat hangers and laid each of the garments on the bed for her perusal.

‘We’re going out to lunch,’ Hermione said, sounding happier as she looked at the dresses.

All three were smart-casual in style and were summer-weight, perfect for a nice lunch at a decent restaurant on a beautiful day like today. She felt instantly happier, feeling her grip on the situation become firmer.

Severus smiled but didn’t reply. Instead, he moved to the dresser where her underwear was kept, choosing a pretty set in white lace. He put them on the bed.

‘Have you decided yet?’

Hermione had been holding each dress up to her as she looked in the mirror, trying to decide which one she preferred. She dropped the current dress back on the bed and picked up the first one she had looked at. It was a pale blue short-sleeved, scoop-necked fitted dress with an ombre print lace overlay, the colour running from pale blue at the top through to purple at the base.

‘This one, I think.’

Severus smiled. ‘It’s perfect.’

‘For what?’ Hermione asked hopefully.

‘For what we’re doing once you’ve got dressed,’ Severus said infuriatingly.

He was back at the wardrobe, now examining her shoe collection. Eventually, he pulled out a pretty pair of flat blue diamante sandals.

‘Will these be suitable?’ he asked.

Hermione stared at him archly. ‘I don’t know, Severus. You tell me, are they suitable?’

‘I think so, yes. But if you don’t like them—’

‘I assume we’re going to be doing a lot of walking?’

‘What makes you think that?’ Severus sounded surprised.

Hermione indicated the shoes. ‘They’re flat. Normally you’d wear heels with this dress.’

‘I just like the shoes and I thought they went well with the dress,’ Severus admitted. ‘If you’d prefer to wear heels then do so. We’re not going to be doing anything particularly strenuous. I just want you to feel comfortable.’

Hermione started to put the sandals back in the wardrobe but stopped. She still had no real idea about what they were doing so she didn’t know whether the shoes would be suitable or not, but that didn’t matter. Severus liked them and he had picked them for her to wear. She put the sandals on and looked at herself in the mirror. They actually looked quite good with the dress, better than she had expected. It gave her a slightly more casual look and she quite liked it.

‘What do you think?’ she asked, turning to show Severus her final choice.

He smiled. ‘If we didn’t have to leave shortly I’d be inclined to take you back to bed. You look lovely.’

Hermione blushed. ‘Thank you for the compliment. I still wish I knew where we were going, though.’

‘You’ll find out soon enough,’ Severus said. He watched her for a minute, then added, ‘I’m going to let you finish getting ready. I just need to nip out for a couple of minutes. I promise I’ll be back by the time you’re ready to leave.’

‘More surprises?’ Hermione asked.

‘Sort of,’ Severus shrugged. ‘Nothing that you need to worry about, though. Now finish getting ready, we need to leave soon.’

 

 

* * *

 

 

Hermione looked around her in surprise. Although she’d had no real idea where Severus was taking her, this was not what she had expected.

‘Where are we?’ she asked.

‘Brockwell Park,’ Severus said. ‘This isn’t our final destination but I wanted to talk to you for a few minutes before we move on and this was the most beautiful spot I could think of that wasn’t going to be too busy.’

‘It is lovely,’ Hermione confirmed. She looked at Severus anxiously, her heart suddenly beating like a drum. ‘What do you want to talk to me about?’

Severus took hold of her hand and led her towards an empty park bench that provided a stunning view over London.

‘You look so worried,’ he said.

‘I’m just a bit unsettled. You know I’m no good with surprises and stuff,’ Hermione admitted.

Her stomach was swirling dangerously as she waited, worried that Severus was going to tell her that he didn’t want to be with her any longer. She was trying to convince herself this wasn’t the case, that what was coming was going to be good, as he had told her, but everything he had done today was completely different from how he would usually act and she felt so unsettled that she couldn’t help fearing the worst.

‘Please, Severus, just tell me,’ she begged once they were sitting down.

‘You have absolutely no patience, do you know that, Hermione?’ Severus said mildly. He smiled at her.

Hermione grimaced back. ‘You know I don’t deal well with these sorts of situations.’

‘You mean you’re a control freak.’

‘No . . . well . . . yes, a bit, I suppose. I just like to know what’s going on.’

‘And you will, I promise. You just need to relax.’ He shook his head fondly. ‘Gods, I love you so much, Hermione. Even when you’re really frustrating you’re endearing.’

Her anxiety quelled a little by those words, Hermione stared at Severus.

‘So what did you want to say to me?’

‘What was far too long ago now, I asked you to be my wife. At the time I had every intention of marrying you—’ Severus began.

A tight band of pain crushed Hermione’s ribcage as panic overwhelmed her once more. She took a deep breath, trying to force down the scream that was building inside her. Part of her wanted to block out Severus’ words, knowing that he was about to devastate her, but she knew she had to keep listening and she had to keep it together, whatever Severus was going to tell her next.

‘—but then the new job and moving to the new house got in the way, and before I knew it we’d been together for what seemed like forever and it seemed pointless to get married when we already had everything that goes with that state. I thought you were happy with that. You never said anything to me, and the few times I heard you talking about weddings you always seemed adamant that you didn’t want one, so I stopped thinking about it and moved on.’

‘But when I saw you at Ron and Catherine’s wedding, watching them as they danced, and I realised it wasn’t just you reminiscing about your wedding day with Ron but thinking of the one you’d never had. It made me realise that I had really let you down. I hadn’t meant to do it, but without meaning to I had hurt you.

‘I love you so much, Hermione, far more than I had ever expected to love anyone. I don’t ever want to be apart from you, not for a single minute, and the last thing I ever want to do is hurt you.’

Severus stopped for a moment because for some reason that he couldn’t quite understand he was shaking. As he stared at Hermione he could see the tears in her eyes. He took hold of both her hands.

‘I know I’ve already asked you once, but will you marry me, Hermione? Will you marry me today . . . right now? I don’t mind if you want to organise a big party for thousands of people once we’re married, but I really don’t want to wait any longer. I want you to be my wife. Please tell me you’ll have me, because I don’t want to lose you.’

Hermione wasn’t sure she could breathe and talking was completely out of the question, although the unbearable pain had vanished as soon as Severus issued his proposal. She stared at him in complete shock.

‘Hermione?’

‘Oh my god, I thought you were going to dump me,’ she said, on the verge of hysterical laughter. There were tears rolling down her cheeks.

‘I must be doing something wrong. I sort of expected a yes or no answer,’ Severus said. ‘Are you okay, Hermione?’

Hermione was sobbing now. She grabbed Severus and hugged him, weeping on his shoulder as she tried to calm herself.

‘So, is that a yes or a no?’ Severus asked, confused.

He pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and gave it to Hermione so she could dry her eyes. She blew her nose loudly, the tears still continuing to fall.

‘I must look a right mess,’ she said several minutes later, once she finally managed to get herself under control.

‘You might need to touch up your makeup a bit,’ Severus admitted. He looked at her avidly. ‘So, my question. Yes or no? What do you think?’

‘You want to marry me now?’ Hermione asked.

‘Yes. Right now, in fact.’ He paused, then said, ‘Shall we try this again one last time?

‘Hermione Granger, will you do me the very great honour of marrying me today?’

Hermione smiled at him. ‘Yes, of course I will, Severus. But I need time to redo my makeup first. I can’t get married like this, I must look an absolute fright.’

‘You look beautiful, you always look beautiful,’ Severus told her. He looked at his watch. ‘You’ve got five minutes before we have to go.’

Hermione pulled her mirror from her bag and stared at her mascara-streaked eyes and her nose, red from where she had been blowing it.

‘I don’t look beautiful, I look awful,’ she said quietly as she got to work, trying to repair the mess.

‘One last thing before we go,’ Severus said once she finished and they were ready to move on. ‘I thought you might want to wear this during the wedding.’ He pulled a floral headband from his pocket and handed it to her.

Hermione smiled as she took it, studying the small blue and purple flowers speckled with diamantes, then put it on. She looked at herself in the mirror again, checking that it looked okay.

‘It’s beautiful. Thank you, Severus.’

‘Are you ready to go?’

‘Yes.’

Hermione’s heart was beating like a drum again, but this time with excitement. She couldn’t believe that she and Severus were really about to get married.

Severus wrapped his arms around her waist, then he kissed her.

‘Let’s go,’ he said, and they Disapparated.

 

 

* * *

 

 

Hermione almost cried again when she realised that Lisa and Derek were waiting for them at the Register Office and she couldn’t hold the tears back during the short ceremony that followed, particularly when Severus presented her with a beautifully engraved platinum wedding ring.

By the time they reached their final stop, the laboratory in which they all worked, where the rest of her staff, who were all apparently in on the plan, had decorated it fit for a wedding celebration, Hermione didn’t think she was ever going to stop crying.

She was overwhelmed with love for Severus and what he had done for her.

Hermione hadn’t realised that he had picked up on her sadness during Ron and Catherine’s wedding; long before that day she had given up any hope of ever becoming his wife. But today he had made all her most cherished dreams come true and she didn’t care that there were only half a dozen people there to share it with them. Almost all the important people were there — the ones she cared about and who cared about her in return.

‘I hope you don’t mind but we invited a couple of other people along,’ Lisa said as she gave Hermione a glass of champagne. ‘There were a few people we thought needed to be here.’

She pointed towards the door. After a couple of awkward seconds it opened and Ron and Catherine walked into the room, followed by Harry and Ginny. Harry was carrying James and Ginny was so pregnant she looked like she was about to give birth at any moment.

Hermione cried out in delight and went to greet them, giving each of them a massive hug as she wept once more.

Lisa gave Severus a glass of champagne as the two of them watched Hermione with her friends.

‘You did a good job, Severus,’ Lisa told him.

He clinked glasses with her. ‘Thanks to you. If I’m ever that dim about Hermione again, please let me know.’

Lisa grinned. ‘Oh, I will. Don’t you worry about that.’

‘That was a nice little ceremony earlier,’ Derek said approvingly as he joined the couple. ‘Well done on the ring, by the way. It was a nice touch. Hermione really appreciated it.

‘So the next thing for you two will be kids,’ he added as they watched Hermione playing with James.

Severus shook his head. ‘No way. I am not having children. It’s just not happening.’

‘But what if Hermione wants a baby?’ Lisa asked slyly.

Severus watched his wife as she hugged the toddler and groaned. ‘She doesn’t want kids. She said she didn’t.’

‘She didn’t before, but that might change now. You’re both settled in steady jobs and you’ve got a nice home with plenty of space and now you’re married—’

‘So what about you two, then?’ Severus asked, trying to deflect. ‘I don’t see you saddling yourself with rugrats.’

‘Funny you should mention that,’ Derek said. He wrapped his arms around Lisa’s waist, pulling her back against him and looking pretty pleased with himself.

‘We had intended to wait until after your wedding to announce it, obviously,’ Lisa said, shaking her head in exasperation at her husband. ‘But yes, I’m pregnant. The Healer confirmed yesterday that everything is okay with it. I’ll be going on maternity leave just after Christmas.’

‘Really?’ Severus looked stunned for a moment, then he grinned. ‘Wow! Congratulations!’

‘Thanks.’ Lisa and Derek said it at the same time and then they both laughed.

‘But you shouldn’t be drinking if you’re pregnant,’ Severus chided Lisa, pointing at the champagne flute she was holding.

She grinned at him and confided, ‘It’s sparkling water. I couldn’t drink even if I wanted to. At the moment the only things that don’t make me throw up are water and green tea, and I don’t really like green tea.  

‘So never say never, eh?’ Derek said.

Severus shrugged. ‘You might be right.’

As little inclination as he had towards starting a family, he suspected that Lisa and Derek were right and it wouldn’t be long before Hermione joined her friends in their desire for a baby. He had never wanted a child, but then again he had never expected to fall in love and get married, so who was to say that having a family wouldn’t be every bit as fulfilling as the relationship he had found with Hermione?

‘What’s the matter, Severus?’

Hermione had left her friends and come to join her husband, who seemed to be away with the fairies. She slipped her arm through his.

He smiled. ‘I’m fine. I was just watching you with James.’

‘He’s cute, isn’t he?’ Hermione said.

‘Uh-oh. Do I hear the patter of tiny feet calling?’

Hermione laughed. ‘God no. I don’t want a baby yet. I’ve got far too many things to do at work first. I wasn’t thinking about getting pregnant for at least another five years.’

‘Five years,’ Severus was slightly worried at how hollow his voice sounded.

Hermione studied him carefully. ‘Don’t you want children?’ she asked quietly.

He shrugged. ‘I have to admit it wasn’t top of my list of things to do after seventeen years of working at Hogwarts. But then again, I never expected to fall in love and get married, either, and look what happened there.’

‘That’s your own fault. You should have just accepted the job when I offered it to you and not insisted on that stupid twenty-four hours test. Then things might have been very different and you’d still be free and single.’

‘That twenty-four hours gave me a good indication of what a control freak you are,’ Severus told her. ‘But I don’t think it would have made any difference. I’d have still fallen in love with you, it would just have taken a bit longer, that’s all.’

He wrapped his arms around Hermione and pulled her close for a kiss.

‘I love you, and I will love the children we eventually create together just as much.’

Hermione smiled. ‘I love you too. Thank you for today, Severus.’

‘Thank you for marrying me.’

‘Ah, Mrs and Mrs Snape,’ Kingsley’s booming voice came across the room as he entered and walked towards Severus and Hermione. He was carrying a big box covered in shiny blue paper with a massive silver bow on it under one arm. Lisa handed him a glass of champagne as he passed. ‘Am I too late?’

Hermione waved at him and Severus raised his glass in welcome.

‘Absolutely not, Kingsley. Come on in, the party is just getting started!’


End file.
